Choices
by Color in the Darkness
Summary: All she ever cared about was the people she called family and cars. But when her dad's promise to work for the Yakuza is broken by his death, everything she had left is destroyed. Good thing someone's there to put everything back together. HanXOC. Being completely re written.
1. The Beginning

AN: I'm sorry guys. I thought someone had my login information so I deleted everything and changed everything several times so there would be no chance of getting hacked. I'm editing everything, adding new parts to my stories, and reposting.

I am completely redoing Complications. I'm offering you a choice on who lives in that one: Han or Ellie. You know I can't do happy, so it has to be one of them.

**1**

**The only way to keep your health is to eat what you don't want, drink what you don't like, and do what you'd rather not. **  
**Mark Twain**

**Z**

The Tokyo skyline rose high above the wet streets. The lights of passing cars flickered well below the elaborate apartment building on the expensive side of town. The streets were clogged with the usual slit-your-wrists traffic and thousands of pedestrians on one cross walk. But that was Tokyo: lights and millions of people swarming all around each other. There was the Underground of course, but I had never seen the street races that were supposed to be untoppable.

I was forbidden from being there.

I walked the streets like one of Tokyo's millions of citizens, but I might as well have been in a cage. My flight risk label gained from my crazy risks and past history of disappearing when things got hard for me had Kamata scrambling to keep me contained.

I hated it. I hated every bit of it. I couldn't get away from it, either. The only good thing about Tokyo was the part of my job involving cars. And the money was nice too.

I was as close to happy as I could get in Tokyo when my phone would ring. The night always ended with me getting a wad of cash that was the equivalent of months of hard work at a normal job and the adrenaline rush I needed to survive as I out ran cops and other Yakuza drivers.

The crash from the adrenaline rush always hurt, though. After a job, I was usually stuck in gangster bars talking with Kamata about the next job I would do, sitting in my empty apartment wishing I was back in the States, or stuck in an old storage room with Kamata's nephew.

I had been thrown in with his little group so I wouldn't go completely crazy from loneliness and he could still keep and eye on me. They were not my favorite people. I missed my friends and family in the States, but I wasn't exactly keeping in contact with them. I had been told from the start there were extreme consequences for me if I attempted to contact someone to help me. That exactly didn't stop me from sending a few emails from my ipod when no one was looking.

I wasn't met with the response I was hoping for. My family had a massive job go wrong that hurt a lot of people involved last time they were involved with the mafia; after that, something like this would get you disowned. The replies I got ranged from telling me they couldn't help to they wouldn't help me until I got out of Japan. Neither response was helpful.

.

It sounds like I complain a lot, and I guess I do, but I have good reason to. When my dad died I took his place running drugs to pay off my uncle's substantial gambling debt with a Yakuza loan shark. I was literally dragged to Tokyo. Well, more like drugged and thrown into some guy's carry on.

Working for them did have its perks. I had a garage by the docks and an apartment waiting for me when I got to Tokyo. The garage was my favorite. I had found an Mazda Rx-8 in DK's garage that he hated and immediately took it back to my place and started rebuilding. I chose times to work on it when I knew I wasn't going to be bumping into DK or his idiot friends who were always stopping by.

That's why I was a little shocked when someone changed the song on my ipod. After a long mental debate on whether I needed to stay under my car or go see who it was, I slid out and pulled myself up on my feet. A very attractive Asian man with very broad shoulders and longer hair was watching me with an amused look on his face and a bag of chips in his hand. I gave him a sidelong look as I leaned on the fender that was supposed to look arrogant and nonchalant, but it wound up looking like I was cornered and looking for a reason to run.

"You know you could put that on the lift, and then you wouldn't have to get completely under it." He drawled out with a smirk. My eyes traveled over his face trying to figure him out. I could tell he was a lot older than DK, and he had the same confidence a lot of the Yakuza had, but he didn't seem like one of them. He had on a sweat shirt and baggy khakis instead of colorful sweat pants or suits like the rest of the Yakuza wore.

"I like it this way." I replied slowly. I had managed to tone down the caged animal expression and get something a little more bored.

"I'm looking for L. Gonzalez. You seen him, kid?"

"I think you mean Ellie Gonzalez. If you do, you found her." I had to smirk. It was a very common mistake.

For some reason everyone assumed my nick names Elle or Ellie were first initials. I'm sure they were all picturing some massive, stocky, gang-tattoo covered cholo fresh out of prison. No one expected Kamata's driver to be a 5'1" Puerto Rican girl.

He gave me a quick once over with one of those piercing gazes that doesn't miss anything. It made me self consciously squirm in my grease stained wife beater I had borrowed from DK and my worn jeans from Neela that were falling off my skinny hips.

"I'm Han. DK asked me to take you to the races." He told me slowly. He paused to pop a few chips into his mouth. "Before I do that, we have got to find you some new clothes.


	2. Off to the Races

**2**

**We welcome passion, for the mind is briefly let off duty.  
Mignon McLaughlin, The Neurotic's Notebook, 1960**

**Z**

Of all the places I thought I'd end up that day, speeding down the freeway sitting in a blue and orange Nissan Silvia S15 next to one of DK's friends was not one of them. It probably would have been a good idea to ask why DK was making me go to the races, but I chose to worry about that later and filled the drive with a conversation about the car. I grilled him like an excited kid that had just been told they were going to Disney World. I tried to keep the excitement under wraps of course, but I needed new ideas for my Mazda and this was a perfect way to get them.

"How did you get into cars?" Han cut in before I could ask another question about the new, bigger turbo he had just installed.

"My dad." I answered flatly. That was not the way I wanted the conversation to turn. I was happy as a kid at Christmas when cars were mentioned, but I wasn't quite ready to talk about anything else with him. He seemed okay; unlike most of D's crew he was calm and mature. He was also a lot better looking then most of them with his tan skin and full lips.

He didn't ask anything else after my tone changed. Awkwardness set in quickly after that. I started to squirm in the black leather seats as I watched the other cars flash by. His dark eyes kept flicking over to me as pulled off the freeway onto my street.

"Up on the right? " He asked, as we got close to my building. I gave a quiet "yeah" in response. We made it through the gilded lobby and into the elevator in complete silence.

It was killing me to be this quiet, but I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't lead into more personal question. I couldn't just start firing questions about the Silvia again, because that obviously annoyed him. Luckily he spoke so I didn't have to think of anything.

"How'd you wind up in Tokyo? Dad a business man?"

"No, I took a break from school to travel a little. Came here and just couldn't leave." He raised an eyebrow at my response. It didn't really fit, but that was the closest to the truth I could get.  
The elevator dinged at my floor and I let a breath I didn't realize I had been holding out. Han raised one dark eyebrow at me as I all but scurried out of the elevator.

It probably doesn't make a lot of sense why I magically got so nervous. But most people haven't seen the parts of Tokyo I have. My deal with Kamata was that he let my gambling-addict uncle live, and I give him part of the money I make driving for him. If I asked for help or tried to skip town, then he's still make his money off of me, but I'd be working as prostitute. After that threat, personal questions kind of scared me.

I led him down the carpeted hall to into my two bedroom apartment. Its last owner was the man whose job my dad was supposed to take. It wasn't much to look at really. It had no color in it; everything was painted grey with black modern furniture spread out across the dark mahogany floor. The back wall of my living room was floor to ceiling windows. That was the main feature of the place.

"If your dad's not a business man, what does he do?" Han asked as he started looking around.

"He past away three months ago, but he left me a few things." Han gave a thoughtful nod in response as he followed me into my bedroom where I put on some music to get rid of the silence.

-Boy did he ever leave me a few things.- I thought bitterly as I started flipping through shirts in my closet. I didn't have a lot of things. I hated shopping, so if I bought something, it was out of pure necessity.

"You really need some color in this place." Han remarked. I poked my head out of my closet to see him sprawled on my bed, which was also done in black and white.

"I wanted to paint this room red, but it's hard make it look right. That color shows every crooked brush stroke." I found a tank top that might be okay for the races and pulled it out.

Han hummed in response and started looking around some more. I quickly discarded the top in my hand and started to look for something else.

"What do they even wear at the races anyway?" I asked in frustration. I didn't have a decent shirt anywhere. I'd have to go shopping again.

"Not much. Have you really never gone?" I looked back to see him flipping through a cigar box filled with old pictures that I had tossed in a bag with a few other sentimental things before the Yakuza grabbed me. I sighed at his blatant nosiness.

"I have, but they were a lot different." I gave up on the shirts and went to look at dresses.  
"How different?"

"Well, they were drag races, of course." He nodded his head without looking up from a picture. "I was also in a small town, so it was just a big group of friends and a couple of others that came to race. The cars we had weren't nearly as expensive, and we didn't have the racer chasers or cliques that Tokyo does."

I gave up on the dresses and moved onto the few skirts I owned. I wasn't good at being girly, but every dress I owned was a sundress that looked like I was going to a garden party with the Queen. With my connections, I needed something a little more bad ass.

"Who's Camaro is this?" Han held up a picture of my black '69 Camaro. I was smiling clinging to my brother's back like a monkey beside it. I had obviously jumped off the hood to surprise him. He was in his Army uniform and was laughing at my stunt.

"Mine. My quinceanera present. " I finally found a cut off denim skirt that would work. I went back to flipping through the limited selection of tops.

"Who's the guy?"

"My brother, Brent. Our best friend took that right before Brent went to Afghanistan." Han looked at me with his dark eyes and closed the box and set it back where it was.

"Find something?" He asked as he slid off my comforter.

"I can't find a shirt." I sighed in exasperation. Yep, this was definitely going to mean shopping. Han walked over and started looking at what I had, I slid off to the side to let him look.

"Why'd DK ask you to take me to the races?" I blurted as I started to shift my weight nervously. I should have been asking that from the beginning.

"He said something about not trusting you there alone. " He glanced at me before pulling out a black shirt. " I assumed you were some new guy that was working for him that just got off the plane."

"Not quite" I muttered with a raised eyebrow.

"Why doesn't he trust you anyway?" He found a black tank that had lace on the back and handed to me.

"I have a habit of hotwiring things." I said blankly. And it scares him because I work for the real Yakuza.

"I never would have guessed that one, kid" Han said with a chuckle.

"My unlikely-ness is my alibi" I joked with a smile. "I'm gonna take a quick shower. How much time I got?"

"You have a while." Han said as he stretched and walked back over to my bed. I couldn't help but be a little distracted by how built he looked. "Take your time."

Even though he said I had time, I hurried through my shower. I hated to leave someone I didn't know unsupervised in my house. I wrapped a towel around myself and started on my makeup in the mirror. I was really a little plain. The only thing that made me stand out was my huge brown cow eyes. I actually spent a lot of time with my eyeliner are dark shadow. I just brushed my hair out so it would dry straight.

I checked the time on my phone to see that twenty five minutes had passed. -I can't believe I let him wander around for that long. I gotta remember to see if he stole anything.-

I threw everything on and started to look for Han. I found him in the hall with a drink in his hand looking at a picture of my brother. His folded flag was sitting on a table underneath it.

"He was there six months. Roadside bomb." Han turned to look at me.

"How close were their deaths?"

"A month." I pushed past him into the kitchen to start working on supper.

"I'm sorry. Is that why you left?"

"Yeah. In a small town people never let you forget. All I needed was to get away for a while." That was the actually the only thing I said that night that wasn't a lie. I just wish my way out had been a little different.

Z  
Three hours later and I was standing in front of my Mazda doing last minute checks. Han had brought me back to my garage to get my car and then showed me the way to the parking garage. I wasn't prepared for amount of people and cars crammed into the building.

I was glad I let Han pick out what I had on. I hated the short skirt and lace back tank but at least I fit in a little bit. He also made me wear the only pair of heels I had, which were five inch stilettos. I had gotten them in case I ever had to wear them to a Yakuza party, but they had never been out of the box. I was a little ticked off over that one.

"I've been looking for you. I hoped you wouldn't be alone." DK walked up beside me.

"I've been good." I retorted.

"Have you seen anything you liked?"

"You want the Rx-8 back." It finally hit me. I was about to win my own car. I hated to part with the Mazda after I had put so much work into rebuilding it, but at least I would own the car I won. Not owing him anything would be great, but it stung that I had done all that work for nothing.

"I had a race set up for a Z. The driver's good, but that shouldn't be an issue for you."

"I want a Corvette or a newer Rx-8." I spat a little to forcefully. The fact he was taking the car back without warning pissed me off.

"Of course you do." He rolled his eyes. I spent six months in Juvie because I stole a Corvette from a businessman in Atlanta. At least I chose someone who could afford it. "I'm glad I sent Han. You look almost presentable." He sneered before stalking away to set up the race.

At least I'm not dressed like I'm about to go dancing at a gay bar. I mentally sneered back. No straight man wore shirts as tight as his. Or wore that much Dolce and Gabbana.

I turned back to my car just in time to see Han across the level. He was swarmed by tall, skinny women that had to be models. A black guy in a baggy sweat shirt and do-rag was standing nearby selling a pair of shoes to one of the women and talking to Han. He caught my eye and gave me a little wink and a smirk. I nodded back and quickly dove back under the hood to hide my blush.

Z

Half an hour later DK walked up to my window with his faithful dog in tow. I had been done with the Mazda was sitting on the hood people watching when he came and got me for the race. His flat face was entirely too close to me as he fixed my safety harness that had gotten tangled when I tried to fix it with nervous fingers.

"It's just around the top levels of the garage. You win, you keep it." He said simply before pulling himself out of the car and going to stand by Neela. She gave me a small, encouraging smile. I intentionally didn't look to see what Morimoto did.

I checked out the car beside me. It was a sleek black with neon green streaked through it. I could tell from the engine sound that it had way more than stock under the hood and it would come down to the drifting. The skinny Japanese guy driving had a smug look that said he thought he had already won.

I smirked to myself as the butterflies started doing flips in my stomach. The girl that was going to start the race stepped between us. I felt the adrenaline build as she pointed to the two equally under dressed skanks on either side. All nervousness left as I excitedly waited for her hands to drop.

The second they did I was off. I felt my organs rearrange from the initial force of the engine pushing me backwards. The first turn came up quick, but I was ready. I swung myself around it smoothly and started to accelerate towards the next one.

Every stressed thought I had had been left at the starting line. I didn't even have to think as I moved through the levels. This was the way racing was supposed to be; just me and the car, kicking the other dude's ass. My opponent was actually a lot better than I thought and was even ahead of me at one point. I ended that quickly by aggressively drifted beside him until he messed up enough for me to pass.

All too soon I was drifting the ramp and it was over. I pulled in front of the cheering crowd and let out a breath I didn't realize I had been holding. The race really cleared my head and for once I felt happy.  
I stepped out with a huge grin on my face only to get bear hugged by a screaming Morimoto. Neela gave me a quick hug and a congratulations, then DK stepped up.

"Good job. I was told to tell you that you have a week off to make adjustments" He leaned down to whisper in my ear so close it probably looked like he was kissing me. He pulled back and I was surprised to see him actually smiling instead of his notorious smirk.

I grabbed my phone and walked over to take the keys to my new ride. I was getting jostled by the crowd as they cheered and congratulated me. I happened to catch a good look at Han's smirk as he stood beside the black guy who looked a little stunned. He gave me a nod that showed his approval. I didn't think it was possible, but my smile got just a little wider.


	3. Twinkie and New Friendships

**3**

**"But from each crime are born bullets that will one day seek out in you where the heart lies."**  
**Pablo Neruda**

**Z**

The high from my first win in Tokyo took forever to fade. Every night I dreamed about taking the turns in the parking garage before flying up the ramp to take my spot in front of the cheering crowd; it was a nice change from the usual things that haunted my dreams at night. I spent the next few days fixing up my new car until it was fast enough to outrun anything that challenged me and smooth enough in the curves to handle my aggressive drifting style.

My fabulous mood even lasted through a Saturday long shopping trip that I had dragged Neela on. While she was a little more girly then me, she was still a tomboy who hated shopping. After she helped me pick out a few race outfits, she left me to do the rest. By the time I had finally plopped down at a table outside a little restaurant for an extremely late lunch and early supper I was starving. I ordered the safest sounding thing on the menu and started picking at it with chopsticks.

"Shorty, you look like a girl with a whole lot of class. I can hook you up. You like Michael Jordan? I-" A voice started babbling out a sales pitch as I tried to maneuver a piece of chicken off my chopstick and into my mouth.

"I'm not interested." I snapped as I dropped the chicken onto my new sweater. I looked up in annoyance to see the guy from the races that was talking to Han. The way his expression changed I knew he remembered me too. He dropped down into the seat across from me.

"I don't think we've met. I'm Twinkie." He extended his hand for me to shake as I blushed darkly at my rudeness.

"Eliana, but everyone calls me Ellie." I shook his hand with a small smile.

"New to Tokyo?" He asked, gesturing at my chopsticks.

"Yeah, I still haven't gotten the hang of these, or gotten used to the food." I scrunched my nose as I poked some type of vegetable that looked completely inedible.

"Yeah, it's a little different."

I fell into an easy conversation with Twinkie. He kept me laughing the whole time. By the time it had gotten dark, I was completely up to date on all the Underground gossip, knew who the top racers were and their rides, and anything else I ever needed to know. Since all of my friends were back in the States, I hadn't had a good conversation like this in a long, long time.

"So where you from?" He asked me between bites of the greasy looking fish he had ordered when he realized that he was going to be there a while.

"I'm from San Juan, Puerto Rico, but when my mom died I moved with my dad to Talladega, Alabama and then to Rock Hill, Arizona."

"That is a random set a places." Twinkie remarked through a mouthful of noodles.

"It really is."

"How'd you wind up here with DK and his little group? You're a good racer, but you do not fit in with his crew of a-holes." I looked down at the table for a long second as I felt his eyes boring into me.

"I really don't know. After my dad died I just kinda took a break and left for a while. I came here and couldn't leave. I met DK, he had a nice car, I didn't know the scene around here, so I just hung with him." Twinkie smiled comfortingly and nodded at my choppy explanation.

"Are you two-anything?" He asked slowly.

"Oh, no. No." I gave a mixed snort chuckle at the thought." I don't date egotistical wangsters who look like they've been bashed in the face with a frying pan." Twinkie laughed.

"Sorry. I was just wondering after he was all over you." He gave me a look that said he was wondering exactly why he was.

"I like to steal things and he was not about to leave me alone." I answered simply. Twinkie's eyebrows shot up as he gave me a quick once-over. I didn't look like the criminal type in my new girly black sweater over skin tight skinnies with the over-the-knee black boots that Neela made me get, but my arrest for stealing a Corvette in Atlanta and my habit of pick pocketing in San Juan said otherwise.

"Well, that explains the driving, but-"

"I know; I don't look like much." I cut in with a smirk. I got away with just about everything because I didn't look like I was capable of breaking the law.

"Musta been one tough crew you ran with. You don't look the typical good-girl-gone-bad type." He joked as he gestured to me with his greasy chopsticks.

"Not quite and I'm not. It's kind of a family business."

"One awesome dad." Twink remarked.

"Actually, yeah. I picked up most of my driving skills from him and his friends that are pretty much family members." I felt my face turn dark red as the words spilled out of my mouth before I could stop them. Oops. That was entirely too much information.

"Sounds like us at Han's. Did you have anyone else besides your dad and family friends?" I couldn't tell if he was trying to change the subject because I was obviously squirming uncomfortably or what, but I wasn't going to complain that he gave me a way out of that part of the conversation.

"I had a brother, and a friend that was like a brother. When my brother went to Afghanistan, the friend took his spot, kinda." I shrugged. "I don't have either of them now." I remarked sadly.

"The friend?" Twinkie smiled kindly at me filling in what had happened to Brent.

I stared at the bottom of my cup of green teas. It took me a while to look up to answer. "Okay, so our family was really tight knit, ya know. If we took you in, then you were completely in. But there's just some rules and promises that you just don't break."

Okay girl, just stop talking. You just told your life story to a guy you've never met. I started to open and close my mouth, fishing for the words that would stop this conversation and keep the personal things from spilling out.

"And up and moving to Tokyo is one of 'em. I get it." Twinkie offered to end my floundering.

"Yeah. Sorry, I haven't talked to someone like this in a long time." I said weakly.

"It's cool. I think I know some people you got to meet. Our crew's a lot like that. You'd be a lot happier with us instead a DK and his monkey." Twinkie stood up and I followed him. He grabbed my many bags and gestured for me to show him  
the way to my car.

He fell into step beside me as he started happily describing Han's garage and crew. I still felt uncomfortable after unloading my entire story on somebody I'd just met. I couldn't help it though; Twinkie was just one of those open, kind people that made everyone comfortable around him. I haven't been around someone like that in a long time.

"You really need to stay away from DK. Ya know his uncle is like the head of Yakuza." He told me bluntly as we made our way down the crowded side walk to where my car was conspicuously parked.

"I know." I spoke softly with a grimace. Twinkie's eyes started to widen. "Everyone knows. That's his ticket to fame. I don't care how good he is, no one would look at him if it weren't for his uncle." I finished with a flourished eye roll. I don't think I distracted him.

"You're probably right." He started to put everything in my car for me. "Are you going to follow me or do you just want directions?" I opened my mouth to answer but my phone rang.

"Maybe later Twink. I have to be somewhere. But here-" I reached for his phone which he handed me. I put in my number as quickly as possible. "I'll come by some other time. Besides, I think I don't think I'm dressed for a Tokyo party."

"Alright, shorty. I'll holla at you tomorrow."

Z

When I answered the phone after saying my goodbyes to Twinkie, I had been given an hour to be at a disreputable and run down area on the other side of Tokyo. After dropping off my bags, I picked up one of Kamata's boys and winded my way through back streets that had a post-apocalyptic ghost town feel until I got to a rotting, Yakuza-owned warehouse.

The air was freezing cold inside the warehouse, but I think it was the suck-the-life-out-of-you part of town we were in that was so chilling.

The homeless where wrapped up in jackets and shabby blankets and leaning on buildings with a hollow, hopeless expression that looked permanently etched on their faces. The women strolling down the street in heels and skin tight clothes on probably would have had the same expression if their faces weren't practically painted on. The worse thing I saw was the addicts; they reminded me so much of my mom.

They kept me waiting for the shipment. I spent most of my time leaning back against the front fender watching the small group of men move around in the office type room through the open door. The Yakuza babysitting me had taken my keys and was sitting in a chair beside the door so he could keep an eye on me.

As I waited, an uneasiness set in down in the pit of my stomach. The people around me looked so out of place against the back drop of the poorest part of the city; they were dressed in expensive clothes and I kept seeing the flash of a Rolex face under the light when someone's sleeve would move. It made me sick to think that while they were huddling around a table probably covered in money while the people on the streets looked like they were starving.

One of the men turned away from the table with a bag in his hand. He wordlessly handed it off to my Yakuza babysitter. He stood out of his chair before slinging the bag over his shoulder and tossing the keys to me in a fluid motion. They bounced off my stomach as struggled to catch them.

As I felt my lip curl in disgust at the well-dressed men in the office, it suddenly dawned on me; I was working for them, and that made me just as bad as they were. The uneasiness in my stomach got worse as the guilt set in. I had always felt like a victim, and to an extent I was, but I had a nice two bedroom apartment, a garage, and more money stashed than I would ever spend. I wasn't exactly suffering, but these people were, and for all I knew, I was helping the ones responsible for that.

I was suddenly brought back to earth by the Yakuza tapping on the trunk for me to unlock it. With shaking fingers, I adjusted my keys and hit the trunk button. As I sick as I felt because of this realization, I knew there was nothing I could do to change it.

Z

I killed the engine the second I put the Mazda in park. It had not been a smooth trip. My fingernails were digging into the steering wheel because of my white knuckled grip which I just couldn't loosen. I glanced at the Yakuza next to me to see him pale and hyperventilating slightly. He opened his door and shakily stepped out. I finally relaxed my grip and popped the trunk so he could retrieve the duffel bag full of-whatever it was full of. I never really asked. I got out slowly and leaned on my door to wait for whoever was getting the shipment.

For some reason, the cops had decided to have a raid. They usually wouldn't dare show up in that side of town and for good reason. Half the cops in this town were owned by somebody. The other half were way too afraid to try anything to make a dent in the crime rate.

A black Mercedes pulled up about twenty feet away from us and Kamata's top officers started filing out. I was already shivering from my lack of a coat, but I felt a little chill go down my spine that had nothing to do with the cold as one of them glanced at me before opening the door for Kamata.

Of all the people I've ever had to work with, Kamata was by far the most terrifying. He gave off an aura of complete control and authority that was unmatched. He was so intimidating that it was just an unconscious response to shrink back a little when he walked by, to pay attention when he spoke, or to want to run the second he started walking towards you.

I felt myself pale slightly when he stepped out. He was always dressed in an expensive handmade suit with a long coat on and matching hat. Today was no exception. He pulled a cigar out of his pocket and lit it as he surveyed the damage on my Mazda. He walked towards my back bumper and ran his hand over a groove in the side that hadn't been there before the run. He nodded at one of his men to transfer the bag into the trunk of the Mercedes.

"Walk with me." Kamata said simply as he started slowly down the waterfront. His voice gave me the creeps. It was gravelly from years of smoking and drinking and I could barely understand him because of his accent.  
I felt myself go completely white as I dragged my feet behind him. He glanced back to see what was taking so long and I reluctantly sped up enough to be beside him.

"You're every bit as good as they said you were, though not nearly the hand full I thought you were going to be." He took another puff on the cigar as he looked out at the ocean. Oh, how I hated that smell. He pulled a wad of money out of his inside pocket, pulled one bill of the top and handed it the rest to me. This was how he always did: the single bill went to my uncle's debt, and the rest went to me. I took it wordlessly and pocketed my pay.

"I think I have another job that would be perfect for you." He continued with a small glance at my stony face to gauge my reaction. "I need some cars boosted and moved into Hong Kong. I will give you the details later." He started to leave, but thought for a second and turned. "Drop your car by my nephew's. He will repair it for you."

I watched him walk back to his car and get in with his boys. They left me alone on the waterfront. I let out a sigh of relief that all of this was over. I used to be happy behind the wheel, but now it was way out of hand. I used to love the way the car moved for me when I finally got everything right. The way it felt to hit the accelerator and leave every thought of the day behind. Now I just felt ashamed of myself. Now I was just helping put drugs in the hands of addicts; money in the hands of people who didn't deserve it. I made me sick.

Z

An hour later I was pulling into the back of the mini casino-ish building that DK had taken up shop in. The bouncer let me without question. I walked in to find Morimoto on the couch with some girl who was either a racer-chaser or a prostitute, DK spread out in his desk chair with two girls around him, and the rest of his crew playing a game that I always thought was Japanese dominoes. The girls with the weird spiked hair and white eye shadow that absolutely couldn't stand attempted to greet me, but were ignored.

"You look nice." DK commented as he looked me up and down. "Big plans tonight?"

"Nope. I have something I need help with" I answered shortly. I was way too tired to come up with a witty response to any of his comments.

"Oh?" He asked mockingly as he leaned further back in his chair. "I can't think of anything you would need."

"I need some body work done on the Mazda and I was told to leave it for you." His eyebrows went up. I mouthed uncle at him and he nodded in understanding. "It was nothing I couldn't have fixed, but you were recommended."

"Leave it out back. I'll call you when it's done." I just nodded. I felt so drained. I turned and smacked straight into someone's broad chest. I looked up to see Han smiling at me.

"Well, hello." He joked.

"Sorry." I mumbled before stepping around him. I was almost out the door when DK called me back in. He shooed everyone else out and had Morimoto get me a drink. Han had made himself comfortable in one of the recently vacated chairs with a glass of what I thought was scotch. I joined him quietly.

"How much work needs to be done?" DK asked me as he extended his hand towards Han who put an envelope that probably held money in it. Han shot me a curious glance. He obviously missed that part.

"Good bit." I answered tiredly.

"Don't tell me the princess of drug running had trouble. Maybe she wasn't as good as Daddy said she was." Morimoto joked in Japanese. He couldn't seem to process the fact that I understood him. Han's eyebrows went up. I was too tired to answer so I shrugged and sipped my green tea.

"How long do you think it will take?" DK shoved the money into a drawer after he counted it and came to sit with us.

"New rear quarter panel-left, I think- and possibly a new back bumper. There was a little more heat than usual." I said bitterly. Stupid cops.

"Fine. I'll get it fixed."

"Thanks. See you later." I got up tiredly and made my way towards the door. I felt so drained after the run.

I had retrieved my purse and was already down the next street when someone grabbed my arm. I eeked and jerked around see it was just Han.

"I'll take you home. You shouldn't be alone on this side of town." He said kindly.

"Didn't you hear?" He raised an eyebrow at my bitter question. "I'm Yakuza. No one will mess with me." I felt myself tear up a little. Oh, great. I've been holding all of this in for three months and it all spills out in front of the hot one. Just, great. I bet I look like I'm psychotic right now.

He ignored me, threw a long arm over my shoulders and started dragging me back towards his Silvia across the street. "Kid, I know just what will cheer you up."

"A rewind button on my life?" He chuckled.

"You been drifting in the mountains yet?"


	4. Exile

AN: Slightly new content.

4

**"And one by one the nights between our separated cities are joined to the night that unites us."**  
**Pablo Neruda**

**Z**

The lights of the city fell behind us as Han took us towards the outskirts of town. The road started to get steeper, and before I knew it we were shooting up the side of the mountain just outside the city. The way he calmly and smoothly handled the corners without even acknowledging I was in the car was strangely comforting to me; he was a nice change from DK's usual goons that were constantly fluffing their own egos as they over aggressively attacked the corners because they thought it would show off their driving skills. Really, it made them sloppy; Han had yet to make a move that lacked precision, no matter what the speed.

Just as I was getting completely relaxed around him, he got to the last curve. He pulled off to the side where the road overlooked the city and killed the engine. I should have known the silence was too good to be true.

"How old are you?" He asked quietly. I raised an eyebrow. I hadn't really expected him to start with that; most people wanted to know why I was running drugs and working on cars instead of doing something feminine. Good old fashion Yakuza sexism.

"Sixteen." His stupidly attractive dark eyes started boring into the side of my head as I looked for somewhere to look besides him.

" How-?" I cut him off. I wasn't in the mood for questions, so I might as well go ahead and tell him everything.

"My dad used to street race, boost cars, run drugs, and he was the best. He retired but his brother didn't and got himself in trouble with a Yakuza loan shark over a massive gambling debt. My dad made a deal with the devil to save his sorry ass and died before he carried out his part." It all tumbled out forcefully. I sighed heavily.

"I was approached by one of Kamata's guys at the funeral and he told me about the deal. He told me he would take me to Tokyo after it was over one way or the other." I paused and swallowed. "I tried to run, because that's what I do-what I'm good at; running away from problems. I realized he'd dropped something into my coffee a little later while later."

"I was almost gone." I continued after a pause. "I made it to the house and had a bag packed when they caught up with me. I briefly remember trying to break some guy's neck, and swinging a tire iron, but next thing I know I'm face first on a car window in Tokyo with part of a sleeve in my mouth."

I was feeling the first tears starting to slip at the end. I snuck a look at Han to see if he was freaked out at my melt down. Instead he was chuckling at the image of me taking on some big mafia hit men.

"You're the second person I have unloaded all that on today. If I keep this up, everyone in Tokyo's going to know." I said as I feeble half attempted at a lighter conversation topic.

"Who was the first?"

"Twinkie" He turned to look at me with a smile.

"Shoulda known. He wanted to know all about you after that race." I felt the corners of my mouth pull up. It was then that I remembered that a low profile was the best option for someone in my situation and nosy friend might be worse than no friend. I pursed my lips to hide the fact that they held a tiny smile.

"Is he always that friendly?" I forced my face back to neutral and asked disdainfully.

"He's worse in the mornings." He reached to wipe a stray tear that hadn't fallen yet. I had to admit that it felt good to have a little bit of contact like that from another person; I hadn't voluntarily let someone that close to me the entire time I had been in Japan. There was a comfortable silence as we both took a second to process everything that had been said. A few more tears started slipping when my thoughts centered on my dad and how much I missed him.

"Why hasn't anyone tried to stop this?" The silence was broken by his whispered question.

"My family is made up of people like my dad. I was either told that they couldn't get me back, or that they were going to try to find me. Either way, I never heard from them again past the first email. I made one phone call from a pay phone when I was sure they weren't tracking me to my brother back home. He accused me of following in my dad's footsteps." Finally deciding I'd broken down enough in front of him, I wiped the last tears away with the heel of my hand and sniffed as quietly as possible.

"What's kept you from catching the first train out?" He asked in a slightly arrogant way. I felt a slight jolt of anger in my chest. It wasn't that easy. How could he not understand that?

"I don't have a choice! It's not as simple as-" I began indignantly.

"Life's simple kid. You always have a choice; you just make your's and you don't look back. You don't get anywhere in this life letting fear lead you." A glint of light caught his face as he leaned closer to me.

"There might always be a choice, but there's also always a consequence."

Z

The next day was as dark and gloomy as my mood was the night before. Big grey clouds threatened rain above my head as I threaded my way through the crowd with a grocery bags firmly tucked at my side. With it being rush hour, there was absolutely no point in driving. The cars were bumper to bumper and hadn't moved much since I'd left the store. The sidewalks were just as crowded with people in school uniforms and business suits trying to get home.

I felt stressed being in the crowds. Without meaning to, people were bumping me and getting extremely close. I wasn't really surprised when one elderly man trying to balance a cup of tea and his brief case as he answered his phone accidentally collided with my shoulder and sent my groceries flying.

I dropped to my knees and frantically started scooping the contents of my supper into the bag before they got trampled

"I'm so sorry." He exclaimed rapidly in Japanese. I could barely understand what he was saying. He bent down to help me pick it up, but another man stepped in and dismissed him with a very curt nod. He was sharply dressed in a well-tailored gray suit with a hand full of rings. When he reached to snag a wayward tomato that was about to be smushed I noticed the edge of a wave peeking out of his sleeve.

"Hey yo, shorty! You need help getting home?" A voice yelled out above the crowd. I glanced up to see Twinkie jogging over with a backpack. I wasn't sure what he was doing over here, but I knew it wasn't his section of town.

"This gentleman got it. Thank you though." I said quickly as finished stuffing everything back in the bags.

Without waiting for a response, I grabbed the Yakuza's wrist to haul myself up and left without saying another word. I peeked back once to the man wordlessly stare down Twinkie before he followed after me.  
I was hoping to hide it, but I could tell by the look on his face Twinkie knew I was a hell of a lot more than one of DK's followers.

Z

"Ellie. Ellie? Ellie!" A masculine voice pulled me out of a deep sleep. When my bleary vision started to clear a little I was staring at the undercarriage of my newest win. I pushed myself out from under the car to see Han looking down at me with a grin and a bag of gummy worms in his hand. His hair was haloed out around his face in weird way because the way he leaned over me.

"Rough night?" His grin got wider. It occurred to me somewhere in my deeply tired brain that he probably thought I was hung over.

"I stole six cars then ran eight duffel bags of coke and money, and whatever else. What do you think?" I muttered sleepily as I rubbed my eyes. His grin deflated a little as he grabbed my arm and started to haul me to my feet.

"Come on. I brought lunch." He waved the bag of gummy worms under my nose and pulled me towards the couch.

"You shouldn't support my sugar addiction." I joked at him as curled up against the arm of the couch with a yawn.

The day after he saw me being stalked by a Yakuza, the ever-so-fearless Twinkie dragged me into his garage and introduced me to his crew. I had to admit, I loved Han's garage more than I did my own. It was huge, filled with drifting cars that could wipe the floor with most of the competitors in the Underground, and the people there were the closest to friends I could get in Tokyo.

I began spending so much time with them, I was pretty much known as part of Han's crew. It felt good to be around people who knew the truth and didn't throw it in my face, or try to use me to get with the gangster guys like the weird chicks. Probably a good thing considering the number of hearts they'd break if they left their usual entourage of models.

During the month that had passed since I met Twinkie, he had really grown on me. He was always a reliable source of information about other people, but when I made it clear I wanted to remain unnoticed, he tried to keep my name out of the Underground's rumor mill. He was fun, happy, and carefree; I desperately needed someone like that around me after everything that had happened in my life in such a short time.

It turned out that I also needed someone like Han. Since he had a better understanding of the situation I was in, he was nice to talk to when things weren't going well. He had also been trying to get me gain back the weight I had lost in my time in Tokyo from food poisoning, stress, and being too busy to stop and eat. This led to me spending a lot of evenings eating take out with Earl, Reiko, and Twinkie at a table in his loft. When I had the time, of course.  
The number of jobs I had done for Kamata had picked up considerably after he decided I was reliable. My phone started ringing at all hours of the day as opposed to just during the night. At first I thought that if he was making me do day runs than I was getting a few of the nights off to finally get some rest, but I quickly realized that he was only going to let me get enough sleep to stay sharp behind the wheel. I also wondered if this was because he wanted more control over me because I had left his nephew's group for Han's, or if he had always had that much work planned for me.

"If you don't start eating, I'm going to finish the bag." He rattled the plastic in my direction. I grabbed a handful. "I don't get why you're so tired lately. You were up for almost three straight days last week and you were perkier than this."

"I've been having nightmares." I said as I stretched on my side over the arm of the couch. I let my fingertips brush over the cleanly swept concrete floor. "I'm always running from something. I never know what. It always ends with headlights." I started to stretch my legs and managed to knock a book off my coffee table. Han grabbed it and started flipping. I snatched the gummy worms from beside his leg while he was distracted. The man ate munchies like he had a tape worm, and I knew he wasn't joking about finishing the bag for me.

"It's entirely in Spanish." He said with amusement as he flipped until he found the most worn page book marked by a ripped out, creased car magazine article.

"I am Latina." I quipped as I chewed. It came out a little bit muffled.

"You boost cars, run drugs for the Yakuza, and read Puerto Rican poetry. You're one complicated kid." He chuckled as he ran his fingers over the abused page of my favorite poem.

"Chilean. Pablo Neruda was the poet laureate of Chili." He gave me a weird look as he started laughing harder. "Give me that." I snatched the book and sat cross legged beside him. I read it slowly and clearly in Spanish, before translating it to English the second time through.

"Exile is round is shape. A circle, a ring. Your feet go in circles you cross land. And it's not your land. Light wakes you up, and it's not your light. Night comes down, but your stars are missing. You discover brothers, but they're not of your blood." My voice trailed off at the end. I chewed on my lip as I thought of my family members in Puerto Rico and my goofy friends back in Arizona.

"You really are home sick aren't you kid?" He asked. I frowned and slowly closed the book.

"Of course. I used to read this all the time after I left Puerto Rico. It always makes me think of home." I responded.

"You've always got a home with us." He drawled casually after a long awkward silence.

"Tokyo might not be so bad then." I said quietly with a little smile. Han brushed the hair out my eyes. My face burned bright red and I felt my eyes get huge. All he did was smile.

Z

After hours of hard work after Han brought me my highly nutritious lunch, I was almost done with my newest prize- a 370 Z that was almost completely stock. I spared a glance at the clock to find that it was near midnight and groaned. I really needed some sleep.

I was tightening the last bolt when my phone rang. I snorted in annoyance and fumbled to get it from its place in my back pocket without removing my head from under the hood.

"Hello." I answered politely when I finally got the little bugger open. I was mentally cursing the person on the other end with a fiery passion for interrupting my work, but snapping at the local mob boss just wasn't a good idea.

"Miss Gonzalez. You're needed in an hour. Same place as before." A gravelly, smoker's voice demanded before line went dead with a click.

Cursing, I dropped to my knees, put my face down, and hit the front bumper with my fist. What more did he want from me? I was at the end of my rope; too exhausted to spend another night running across Japan.

The music coming from my iPod speakers skipped, signaling an email coming in off the neighbor's wifi. Grudgingly, I drug myself off the floor and grabbed my iPod off its dock. Of my three new emails, two were from friends back home. They both featured a picture of a familiar cream Monte Carlo and a red Viper races through a half built neighborhood. One even included a video that I didn't have time to watch.

What has that boy done now? I thought to myself as I checked the last email. It was from Ms. Boswell.

I don't know where you are, or why you suddenly decided to vanish, or if you're even still out there, but I need help. I just sent Sean to Tokyo with his dad because he was racing. He'll be there on the seventh. Wherever you are, keep my boy out of trouble.

I felt a strange emptiness as reread her words and then told the emails to show as unread.

Sean was like my second brother. His friendship with Brent and his love of cars made him a permanent fixture in our house. He had always been there for me and I had always been there for him, even after we moved to different states. That was until I called him after I got taken to Tokyo. The phone called ended with a lot of name calling a warning to not call again until I could stop pathologically lying to cover my cowardice. I knew he was lashing out because he was angry about Brent and dad, but that still hurt me to the core.

I had lost so much in so little time; I didn't think I could handle a conversation like that face to face. He was all I had left, and he had shut me out.

I dropped my iPod back on its stand and turned back to my now finished Z, trying to pretend that I wasn't crying.

AN: In case you didn't see my note on chapter one.

I am completely redoing Complications. I'm offering you a choice on who lives in that one: Han or Ellie. You know I can't do happy, so it has to be just one of them.


	5. Old Friends

**5**

**"I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so you can appreciate them when they're right, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together."**

**Marilyn Monroe**

**Z**

The seventh came and went without a word from the Boswells. The only piece of news I got from anyone was another email of the race video from one of my Arizona friends. I couldn't help but feel just a little bit proud of him; I had actually picked the Viper to win in the beginning. That little ounce of pride went away pretty quickly when one of the weird chicks that was always hanging off of Morimoto shoved her cell phone under my nose with the video of Sean in the Silvia racing DK. I didn't have time to watch it, but I did see the Silvia crunched at the finish line.

I had managed to sweet talk Han into letting me drive her just once. It was beautifully powerful machine that had no equal in the Underground. Han swore he wasn't a racer, and that might be a little bit true, but he was one hell of a mechanic. I was praying that beautiful engine survived the damage.

It was a week later when Twink called me to come in and meet the new guy, which I absolutely couldn't refuse; mostly because Twink was a pro at guilt tripping me. Knowing I couldn't refuse Twinkie because he'd eventually find another way to drag me there, I ended up in the desolately empty parking lot in from of Han's club half an hour before Twinkie and Sean were due home. The only other car was an orange and black Rx-7 Veilslide that I knew was Han's from my occasional visits to the garage.

Seeing Sean was a bad idea.

He loved my dad and brother as much as I did. He was hurting just as much as I was. From our one phone call since my dad's funeral, I knew he felt abandoned and thrown away. He thought I chose to run away because he didn't think my uncle would ever let me pay his debt to the Yakuza for him.

He was wrong, of course. From what I heard, he showed up down Kamata's street with my picture and a glowing recommendation of my driving skills the day my dad died. Apparently the fact that I could clean up enough to be a pretty stripper in a sex club was also a major selling point of his. I strongly suspected drugs had become an issue for him if he desperate enough to make me pay his debt instead of facing it himself.

Since I knew facing Sean would cause a huge scene and a whole lot of hurt, I had everything planned out perfectly: I would get there early, talk to Alden, Jimmy, and anyone else floating around the garage, then pretend I had somewhere to be and go out the front while Sean came in the back. I took a few steadying breaths, trying to banish the thoughts of Sean finding out I was there.

Was I a coward for avoiding him? Probably. Was I protecting the little bit of my heart was unbroken ? Hell yes. Sean was one heck of a grudge holder and I had one heck of a temper if you got me going.

I got out of my car and speed walked through the building until I got to the garage portion. Alden waved at me from his place on the couch where he was killing Jimmy at some type of shooting game. I joined them for a second before Nozomi, Han's current fling, walked up to give me a hug.

She was very sweet and beautiful. I didn't like her a little because I still had a crush on Han, but I couldn't really _hate _her exactly.

"Haven't seen you in a while" She commented in Japanese.

"Busy" I managed to stutter out. I could understand a lot of Japanese, but I hated to speak it.

"You seen what the new guy did to the Silvia?" Alden asked over his shoulder while absolutely slaughtering Jimmy. Jimmy just needed to give up.

"One of DK's people had a picture." I sneered a little when I said DK's people.

"He's got some potential." Han wandered up the stairs in a grease stained, gray t-shirt wiping his hands on a rag. Everyone gave him the same exhausted look. Apparently Sean's practice session the other day didn't go to well.

"Hey Ellie, I've got an electrical problem with that old Supra over there." He pointed at something that was obnoxiously neon blue. "Give me a hand." He turned and walked away before I had a chance to answer.

"Put me to work why don't you." I joked as I followed him to the other side of the garage where he was waiting. I tried not to panic as I leaned down under the hood. I had plenty of time to fix this and get the heck out of there.

"After you meet Sean, just stay here. There's been some trouble with Kamata and a rival faction. It would be safer if you could get out of running for a while" Han whispered directly into my ear as he leaned over me when he pretended to reach for some wires. I felt my face turn a lovely shade of crimson as I took in a sharp breath. I think I squeaked out a "what" , but with Han this close to me it was hard to think.

"I can't not go, Han." I said as calmly as possible. Han moved like he was pointing something else out and rested his hand on my hip.

"Why do you do this to yourself anyway? The money's not worth it." He said. I felt my temper flare. Didn't he remember anything I told him?

"I was brought here because of my uncle and my dad. I stay and do whatever he tells me because I'm worse than dead if I don't. And no, I don't care about the money." I yanked his hand off of my hip and slid away from him. I was careful to keep my head down so the people in the loft didn't suspect we were about to be fighting. My blood was boiling at his arrogance.

"Is being someone's dog really worse than being dead?" He deadpanned. I furiously glanced up to meet his eyes.

"I used to think so. I've changed a bit since I lost everything." I said quietly as I straightened up and started to leave. I was stopped in my tracks when the Hulk mobile pulled into its spot . I frantically glanced around to see if Sean's Evo was in the garage. It was, which meant he rode with Twinkie. Crap.

I started looking for a way to avoid being seen kind of like a squirrel would look when trying to dodge a hawk; with lots of panicked twitchiness and eye darting. I heard Sean's laughter float through the garage after Twinkie said something that I couldn't make out. _Sean's laughing? He was always miserable unless he was driving._

I finally made eye contact with Han who was watching my every move with complete interest. I started to make a few connections; he looked through my pictures, he knew I had an almost brother from Talladega, and he gave Sean of all people the keys.

"You knew?" I hissed. He shrugged.

Sean and Twinkie's voices kept getting louder. I just kept staring at Han in shock. I didn't really know what to feel. I was terrified of seeing Sean again and angry because trapping me under the hood of that toxic blue Supra so I had to was just plain cheating.

"Hey Han, where are we-" his question was left hanging in a heavy silence when finally he noticed me.

"Yo, Sean, I totally forgot. This is Ellie Gonzalez. She-"

"I know who she is. What are you doing here? If you're here apologize, forget it." His angry twang cut Twinkie off. His green eyes were flashing with anger as he adopted a defensive stance.

"I think we need to talk somewhere else." I said as smoothly as I possibly could with a million butterflies eating my stomach lining. I decided I was angry at Han for ruining my escape attempt, so I shot him a dirty look as I made my way to the stairs.

"There's nothing else to talk about." He shot back. Twinkie's eyes kept darting between us as he tried to process what was going on. There was an uncomfortable silence in the loft as they paused the game and started to eavesdrop.

"I think we should take this somewhere else." I insisted as a glanced back from the stairs to look at him. He looked like he was about to explode. I felt like I had been punched in the gut. I should have run for the door when I had the chance.

"You leave me with alone with my mom after I lost the man I considered my father? You weren't the only one hurting, but you had to run to Uncle Jorge like a whiny little bitch." Great. He was screaming.

"Seriously, Sean?" I almost shrieked as I turned around again. _This is not the place for this. If I wouldn't be murdered by a thousand super models I would totally run Han over for putting me in this situation right now. I'm sure someone in Yakuza would bail me out. _I thought bitterly. "I think you need to hear the whole story."

"I know the whole story. You ran. Just like you always do. It got tough, so you bailed and did something stupid. I guess this pays a little more than sneaking to Vegas with your hellion friends, huh?" He started clenching and unclenching his fists at his sides like he was trying to not start a fist fight. I felt completely numb and just stood there like a rag doll.

"I've grown up a little since then, Sean." I said quiet bitterness.

"Doubt that. Your still the same street rat, illegal that can't quit running. That's why the call you Speedy Gonzalez isn't it? You're always pulling all kinds of shit and then running away and acting like the victim. Ya know, I'm shocked you made it here. We all knew you were going to run, but we figured you wind up some cholo's baby mama in the barrio somewhere like your mama did."

Time slowed down. I felt a hot flare of anger that I hadn't felt in a long time flick up like a flame. My temper had been missing the whole time I was in Japan; it was like someone had thrown a bucket of cold water on me. It felt good to finally thaw out.

My feet moved without me telling them to. Twinkie started to try to intervene, but I pushed past him and landed a hard, satisfying punch in Sean's gut. When he doubled over I kicked him in the back of the knees so he'd fall.

I spun on my heels, jerked my head up at a proud angle, and prissed out with stunned stares and silence at my back. I deflated a little when I made it into the storage room. After the little flicker of fire had gone out, I was back to being numb. I leaned against the wall and let my head fall onto a shelf.

_What the heck has happened to me? I used to be stubborn and actually have a personality. I just let him walk all over me and now I don't feel anything._

I felt another person's presence. I looked up to see Han staring at me from the doorway. I sighed and let myself slide down the wall, He joined me wordlessly. We sat like that for a long time, just not saying anything.

"He felt bad." Han's voice rumbled out of the silence. We looked at each other for a second before going back to staring in space. "He said you looked old and like you were dead inside."

"I've changed a bit since I got here. I used to not take any crap from anyone. Now, I just kind of-" I put my forehead on my knees and sighed. "I used to do things for the fun of it. When things got tough, I'd distract myself by test driving someone else's car or racing someone. Now that I have a gun to my head, there's just no point anymore. I feel like I'm on auto pilot"

"There's always a point." He said firmly. "Things change and sometimes they change you. Now you have a chance to fix it."

I watched his expressions from under my elbow. He looked sadder than I'd ever seen him. I never thought of Han having problems. He was almost never without a girl on each arm, or if he was, he was drinking or laughing with a group of people. He never wanted for money or cars, and a lot of people would kill to be part of his crew. Him looking upset over anything was a complete foreign concept.

But now he looked like a man that carried the weight of the world on his shoulders. His eyes looked ancient, like someone who'd seen way too much to early. Unconsciously trying to offer some show of comfort, I scooted a little closer.

"I don't think it's a good idea for Sean to be around me." I blurted. Han quirked an eyebrow at me and turned to look at me as he rested his chin on his fist. His expression clearly told me he thought I'd lost it.

"You've always said 'who you're around tells you who you are'." I said slightly mockingly. " I'm surrounded by murderers. I don't want Sean around that. Remember when he told me all I did was run? They've labeled me as a flight risk; they keep tabs on me. I don't want them approaching Sean or something because he said hi to me on the street. You know how he picks fights- what in God's name are you snickering at?"

I ended my rant with clenched teeth and a death glare. He laughed harder and threw his long arm around my shoulders and pulled me so my forehead was resting uncomfortably on his collar bone. I stiffened in annoyance.

"You are something kid."

"He's still family no matter how much we fight; he's mad because he got his feelings hurt. I was the only person he had and I was going to go live with him and his mom after everything so I could keep him out of trouble. When he thought I ran out on him it hurt." I muttered into Han's shirt. It was getting difficult to stay annoyed when I got a whiff of his cologne mixed with oil and the smell of his skin.

He loosened up on me so he could look me in the eyes. His brief look of sadness was replaced with smile.

"You're not like them, Ellie. Sean will get over all this. I have a feeling with you two back together, you'll be back to your normal fire ball self and Sean will get over some of his issues."

"How do you know I was a fire ball? I've felt like a ghost these past couple months." I asked with a half smirk.

"You jacked some lawyer's Corvette. You broke into an old airfield and turned it into a race track for your Camaro. You apparently throw some pretty wild Christmas parties at an old gas station with a lighted cactus in place of a tree. Anyone who does all that has to have a little sass."

"I gotta clean out those pictures." I stated to Han's amusement. I felt myself lean back comfortably onto Han's chest as I laughed with him. I really wanted to believe he was right about me and Sean. His little pep talk had lifted my mood considerably.

Han unconsciously moved his hand up to the side of my cheek while we were still chuckling. I moved to give him a confused look because he never did anything like that to me. He just smiled and leaned in closer. I felt my face get red hot as his lips met mine. My heart started to flutter wildly in my chest. I had been kissed before, but never like this.

We stayed like that for a long time. We only broke apart when someone opened the door. Nozomi looked at both of us with a shocked look on her face.

_Okay, I'm sitting in the floor of a storage room with her boyfriend's arm wrapped around my shoulders and his face an inch from mine. There is no way this looks good. _

When no one reacted to her little stare down she lightly stomped her foot and put her hand on her hip. "Han, everyone already left to go to the docks. They thought you already left. You should catch up to them." Her bitchy tone grated on my nerves. I felt a little thrill of victory at her jealousy. _I should feel bad about this. Oh, well._

Han started to try to unfold his legs, which was awkward in the small corner he had crammed his tall self into. He slid his hand along my back as he stood up and offered me his hand.

"Want to see Sean in action?" He asked with a smirk. Nozomi adopted the universal oh-no-you-didn't look from her spot by the door, which Han didn't see because he was only looking at me. I smirked smugly and was opening my mouth to say yes when my phone went off right on cue.

"Remember what I said." He murmured and gave me a quick peck on the lips. He walked out towards the front without a glance at Nozomi who was obviously not invited.

"What the hell?" She shrieked in Japanese as I started digging for my phone in my jacket pocket.

"It was just a peck on the lips." I told her nonchalantly with a shrug. I flipped my phone open and walked out before I had to hear her reply.

"Hello?"

"Ms. Gonzalez," I didn't hear a word. I had a wide triumph grin that just couldn't be taken off.

_Maybe Tokyo's not so bad._

_**AN:**__Hey guys. I know this is really annoying, but could you please review? The only reason I haven't deleted my other account is that I'm sentimental and don't want to lose all of the reviews people have written. _

_Also please answer my question about my rewrite of Complications. I had both versions written, and I published the one where Han had a bad day instead of Ellie. I want to know which one you think you'd prefer. _


	6. Chapter 6

**6**

**"Life was tough, it could be dangerous, but it made sense. The problems it threw at you could be solved rationally."**

**Scott Westerfield**

**Z**

There were always two things I could count on in the center of Tokyo; bright lights and swarms of people. The lights were always blinding and I was always being bumped and pulled like I was in a rip tide by people hurrying off to wherever they were going. But the further you got from Tokyo, the more that changed. The lights started to turn dim, and while there was still people, they were spread out. Not much was creepier then standing at the dark entrance to a side street totally alone.

One of the few things that creeped me out more than the back alleys was the Yakuza's office. It was down a dark side street on the back side of a couple of legitimate businesses. The buildings on either side were empty and boarded up. A single street lamp illuminated the dingy door with peeling paint. The rest had been allowed to go out.

I pulled on my jacket as I walked down the tiny corridor of a street. I shivered slightly and it had nothing to do with the cold. The happy, warm and fuzzy feeling I had from making out with Han had disappeared and I was left feeling like I had ice water in my veins. I was forcing my feet to keep moving as I watched for any sign of a person. This alley looked like a perfect place for someone like Jack the Ripper to hide.

A guard beside the door who was shaded by the light from behind him tossed away a still glowing cigarette and stood up from his leaning position on the wall. I made it almost to him when he opened the door for me and stepped aside. I nodded at him wordlessly as I stepped inside.

The inside was just as bad as the outside. It had a bare wood floor and was almost devoid of any furniture except for a beaten old couch and a table. The whole place smelled like cigars, old money, and alcohol. I moved through the first room, which was obviously once the waiting room for an office, and through a side door which took me through a creepy hallway into Kamata's office.

This was a satellite office. The main office of the faction was absolutely beautiful with polished wood floors and expensive furnishings. There was a sign on the door loudly proclaiming it to be a Yakuza building. I had been there very few times. The sketchiest part of Kamata's drug trade was a shadow operation, so it wasn't exactly done in the light.

Kamata's office was relatively nice compared to the rest of the building. His desk was very old and ornately carved. A few other antique pieces of furniture were spread throughout the room with various decorations on top. They were still covered in a layer of dust and had the look of being abandoned.

Kamata was sitting back in his desk chair waiting for me when I was ushered in and the door slammed behind me. He was wearing a simple black suit today, but I could see his trademark hat and coat behind him on a coat tree. He gestured for me to sit in the single chair in front of his desk with the hand that held his lit cigar. He savored a few more puffs before acknowledging me again.

"Ms. Gonzalez, the war is getting worse. You will be going directly through enemy territory and it is unlikely that they will allow it."

He waited for me to react. I had had several almost mishaps because of cops or other Yakuza trying to intercept the shipment. When I didn't comment, he continued.

"What you're running is a significant investment; I trust you will remember this." He set his cigar down in his ash tray and slid open a drawer. He withdrew a black pistol and a clip of ammunition. My heart started to thump against my sternum and my eyes unconsciously cut to the door as he loaded it and set it in front of him.

"I rather hope you don't have to use this, but I trust you will be able to if it comes to that. If you are not, I will replace you with someone who is."

Z

I took every curve with vicious ferocity. A quick glance at my rear view mirror revealed that the black Civic was still behind me. _The war will be worse? He probably should have should have mentioned the top street racers of Osaka will be paid to run you headfirst into a tree. _I thought bitterly as we were slammed into again.

I grumbled in Spanish under my breath as I jerked the gear shift and yanked on the e-brake. I looked over at the Yakuza next to me. He was gripping the armrest on the side of the door so hard he was leaving marks.

After a lot of turns onto random side roads and doubling back through pedestrian filled neighborhoods and skinny back alleys, I managed to lose him. I pulled through the doors of the warehouse and killed the engine of the Z I was driving that night. I leaned back into my seat with an exhausted sigh. The gun I had carelessly shoved into my waistband jabbed into my hip bone uncomfortably.

The Yakuza muttered something that sounded like "good job" and stepped out to grab the bags. I watched him lazily from the side mirror for a second before getting out myself to stretch my legs a little.

I still couldn't shake the feeling of paranoia. It was dark on the inside without the light from my headlights, but there was obviously no one here besides What's-his-name and me. I checked my watch and started unconsciously fingering the smooth, cold metal of the gun at my hip. We only had to wait there a couple of minutes for the Osaka runner to take the shipment from us. Unless something had happened to him, of course.

"Give me the keys." I said in very slow Japanese. This didn't feel right. I wasn't allowed to have them when we were stopped and I was probably going to get slapped for my insolence, but I didn't care. To my absolute surprise, he wordlessly handed them over and motioned for me to hurry and put them in the ignition.

An icy cold chill of paralyzing fear shot down my spine as I caught a bit of movement in a corner. My eyes shot over to the Yakuza who had noticed it too and was reaching for his hip holster that had been hidden by his jacket. The crack of a shot rang through the building before he could get it drawn. I threw myself down as on the concrete floor a second later as the second bullet shattered the window above my head and rained glass down on me.

I scrambled for the gun as the shadow of a man stepped out from his hiding place with a gun by his side. He approached me with smooth, long strides as I tried to free the gun from the hem of my shirt. I had landed awkwardly and was having an awful time trying to get it and keep it hidden. The element of surprise couldn't hurt here, right?

He grabbed my collar and forced me to my feet the second he got to me. He pushed his fist up against my throat and held me against the side of the car while I struggled fruitlessly. He kept muttering menacingly at me in Japanese with what I was sure was threats of what was going to happen later, but I couldn't make out a word because I was too focused on the gun an inch from my nose. He let go, which knocked me off balanced, before he grabbed a fistful of my hair and into the slightly cracked open top of my door. I felt my head spilt open on the edge.

The pain snapped me out of my stupor and I forced my index finger around the trigger. He dragged me up again and turned me to face him as he landed a solid hit on my cheekbone. I shoved the gun against his sternum and pulled the trigger.

I braced myself for the feeling of recoil, for the loud boom, for the feeling of hot blood spattering on me, but none of it ever came; something went wrong with the gun and it wouldn't fire. I felt panic rising in my chest as I tried several more times. The man stiffened in shock from having the gun knocked against his chest and I took that opportunity to raise my arm and slam the part of the gun that held the clip directly into his nose. He stumbled backwards and another shot echoed through the building, splattering hot blood all over me.

_Oh, God. I'm dead. I'm dead and it didn't hurt that much. _I opened my eyes slowly and took in the sight of the Osaka yakuza sprawled on his side. There was a wound on his neck that was pouring blood all over his now disheveled suit. Some of his tattoos were showing where his shirt was moved to the side in the struggle. I didn't know if I needed to be disgusted or relived.

I heard my Yakuza fighting to stand somewhere near my back bumper. I couldn't look away from the body long enough to see where he'd been shot. After he'd managed to stumble over to me, he grabbed my chin and jerked my face towards him so he could see check my head wound. It stung, but aside from the annoyance of hot blood dripping beside my right eye, it was nothing. I could see blood starting to slide between the man's fingers that were pressed against his left side. It was not a fatal shot; it hit more towards his hip bone that it did any organs.

Not knowing what else to do, I picked my way around the body and the growing blood pool to my trunk. I pulled out the bag of spare clothes I kept in case of emergency and grabbed one of DK's old shirts off the top. The Yakuza snatched it out of my hand and pressed it firmly to his side. The wetness on the black shirt was obvious.

I moved to get in the driver's seat so I could get us out of there, but he snagged my wrist and pulled the gun out of my hand.

"Safety." He said in heavily accented English as he flicked it off and then back on again before he handed it back . _Of frickin' course. _

The Yakuza dragged himself to his side and limply sat down. He pulled out his phone and started blathering in Japanese. I started the engine and flew out of the building. I tried to stay calm and take the curves just like I could any other day, but as the adrenaline wore off, the blood loss started to make my head spin.

"Back to Kamata." The Yakuza said when he hung up. I looked over to check his condition; he had started ripping off his shirt sleeves and uses them for bandages. I wished he had done that sooner; despite the shirt I gave him, he was bleeding all my seats.

Z

The fumes of adrenaline got me back to Kamata's office in one piece, but I was in a lot of pain and almost physically sick from the dizziness. I was expecting to get an angry Yakuza boss and a shot to the head when I got back, but instead there was a middle aged doctor with medical supplies already laid out.

After I got my head stitched back together, I spent the day sprawled on the lumpy, misshapen couch with someone's tie around my head to keep my bangs out of my stitches. The events of yesterday swirled around in my concussed head.

I couldn't decide what to feel. I was a Gonzalez; we buried our feelings deep, and if we ever started to remember them, we took a shot of tequila and buried them deeper. I felt tired of being sad and afraid. I was tired of cowering in my apartment. I made the decision that I done and that I was going to start living again.

What was the point in being disappointed in my uncle and feeling disgusted at his betrayal? He'd probably already been murdered and thrown in the ocean by the loan shark. Even if he wasn't, I knew he was too much of a coward to ever approach me.

That got me thinking about Sean. His words finally started to sink in and before long I was burning with anger. Who the heck did he think he was anyway? He had the worst temper issues of anyone I had ever met. He had no right to lecture me about my bad habit of skipping town for the weekend and doing something reckless when he handled things by picking fight with the most well connected person he can find.

I was mad as hell at Sean, but I was going to end this fight. Dad would be furious at us for fighting when we needed each other most. I loved him just as much as I did Brent, and I needed him just as much as I did Brent. When something catastrophic happened, I always had those two and they always had me. Sean's hard headedness was ridiculous and all I had to do to get my brother back was give him the reality check of a lifetime.

By the time noon rolled around I was pacing like a trapped tiger and ready to go give Sean a piece of my mind. Kamata had almost refused to let my go without calling someone to drive me, but I insisted it was a flesh wound, and I'd be fine. It didn't work, but as soon as DK dragged his lazy ass out of bed at around one, I was able to get a ride home. He made me wear someone's undershirt because mine was blood soaked after I had to stop and help the guy with me. If I didn't change, he was going to refuse to let me in his car.

I looked like death on a cracker when I stumbled into the back door of Han's garage after finally getting back to my own car and driving myself. I still had the tie as a head band, the entirely too big undershirt over my black sports bra, and a bruised and still a little blood stained face. Han was entertaining a small group of people when he heard me come in.

His smiling face appeared over the railing only to change to concerned shock. He was down the steps and inspecting my head before I could blink.

"It's not that bad." I shrugged him off. "Where's Sean?"

"What happened?" He ignored my protests at his mothering and kept inspecting my new stitches.

"You were right. About everything. An argument got a little out of hand." He hummed while he felt of my head for any non-visible bumps hidden by my hair.

"We got attacked over the shipment. Guy with me got shot, but he saved my ass. I want to fix things with Sean. I don't want to die without finishing this."

The sound of the Hulkmobile pulling up echoed through the garage. I could hear Twinkie and Sean start walking towards us. I gave Han an I-got-this look and he let me go.

"Wha-" Sean stared at me like a fish out of water when he saw me. I attempted to storm up to him, but it probably wasn't very threatening considering how much the floor was spinning.

"Get in the car." I told him flatly as I stopped and drew myself up to my full height of 5'2".

"You're hurt." He whispered guiltily as he reached out to touch the side of my face. I slapped his hand away.

"Boy, get in the car. We're going for a ride." It felt good to mess with him. I always won our fights by screwing with his head. He started to visibly pale from what he thought was a threat. I _was _Yakuza after all. I might as well start owning it.

"Oh, so now you're scared of the Yakuza." I taunted as I walked over to my Rx-8, which I changed into while my Z was getting fixed.

"Where are we going?" He asked cautiously.

"You're going to see exactly what this family messed with." Pure horror spread across his face. "Chill out, papi. I'm bringing you back just as you are now at the end."

He flinched at the word papi. That was the sarcastic term I used when I were arguing with Brent or my dad. It was a habit I got from my harpy of a grandmother who made Sean cry every time she visited.

"You hit your head." He stuttered.

"That's why you're driving."

AN: Slowly but surely, it's getting reposted. This is a lot cleaner, but not as much changed. I'm going to start placing my oneshots in where they would go chronologically and it's drastically changing the story in some places, so watch out for that. It

If you could, please review. It makes me feel like reposting everything after getting hacked isn't totally pointless.


	7. Chapter 7

**7**

**"To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness."**

**Robert Muller **

**Z**

Tokyo was famous for its bright and random culture. Its streets were always teaming with different types of people. The younger people in Tokyo were always displaying their creative fashion choices that would put Lady Gaga to shame. The people who were office workers could always be seen hurrying off to whatever job they had next in their conservative suits. Even a few older women could be seen still wearing kimonos.

But even in the mass amounts of people, it was still possible to pick out who was Yakuza. They always dressed in expensive suits and sunglasses or extremely tacky sweat suits. They carried themselves through the crowd with an air of authority and self-importance that made people step aside.

The further you got into their territory, the more obvious it got. Normal people wouldn't dare venture into this part of town. The Yakuza got a little careless with letting their tattoos be seen. They were usually very open with who they were in the daytime, but in the night in this part of town it was a whole different side of them. The mafia didn't hide here. They had no reason to; they owned the city.

"Up on the right." I directed Sean. He pulled up to the curb and turned off the engine.

We were in post-apocalyptic, boarded up section of Tokyo where Kamata's guys thrived. There were a couple of sketchy looking people floating around between buildings, but apart from that there was nothing. The street lights flicked on around us as the sun sank behind the buildings. They were dim and didn't help illuminate the streets at all.

I chose this place on purpose. We were on the very edges. Sean got a peek of the other side, but he didn't get the full on view. He needed to be aware of what was going on, but he didn't need to know everything. He'd do something stupid to get me out if he knew how bad things really were.

"See the light down that street?" I pointed down the street perpendicular to us where an alley was obviously brightly lit up.

"Yeah. Han showed me where they stayed."

"No, he showed you the street Kamata's club was on. This is the red light district." He raised an eyebrow at me.

"Kamata told me I owed him my uncle's dead and I had to work it off. The trick he pulled on me, is pulled on thousands of girls every day. A lot of them wind up there." I pointed down the street where a couple of men had just turned into the alley from another part of the street. "Some get tricked into coming because they think they have honest jobs lined up. Doesn't matter. It all ends the same."

My cynical tone caught Sean's attention. His lips pursed together and forehead started to scrunch up in thought.

"Why do you help these people? If they to do this to people, why work for them? You're just as bad."

My burning anger had slacked off. I was exhausted and didn't have the energy to be angry anymore. I got annoyed at Sean's comments like that, but at least I didn't feel like I was going to reach across the car and deck him.

"I've struggled with that for a long time, but the truth is I'm in the same boat as those girls. If he ever gets really angry with me, he'll turn me into one of those girls or he'll kill me, and honestly I hope he kills me. Come on. We've got a few more places to go."

I took him to every drug store house, chop shop, and Yakuza alley I could without being spotted. I was absolutely terrified of being followed, but I never saw any sign of a tail. There was always a chance someone would recognize my car, so I had Sean pull up as far away as possible.

Despite only showing him glimpses of Kamata's world, he started to look more freaked out after every stop. By the time we pulled into our last stop, I knew he believed there was no way in hell I took this job willingly. Though to keep him convinced, I made a mental note to not show him my apartment for a while; it would be hard to call myself a victim in my two bed room lavish apartment while Sean was sleeping in his dad's closet.

When Sean parked at the waterfront I immediately stepped out of the car. I was dizzy and had to lean on the fender for a second, but I managed to walk out by the water. The fresh air coming over the water kept me from throwing up, but the nausea was still overwhelming. Sean warily came to stand beside me. He stopped a good distance away from me, but that didn't hide how white his face was.

"Is this the part where you whack me?" He asked nervously. I snorted quietly.

"No, you're family; even if it's not blood." A cold breeze hit me carrying the scent of fish and saltwater. I pulled my arms into my chest and hoped the wind would slack off.

"You weren't running this time." Sean stated.

"Not yet, anyway. I'm getting out of here. It might take a while, but when I get a chance, I'm gone."

"Now you sound like the Ellie I know." His twang was closer then I was expecting. I stiffened when he pulled me into a hug.

"I've been half dead since I got to Tokyo. I just now snapped out of it." I started to shiver from the cold wind. I had forgotten my coat at Kamata's.

"What made you snap out of it?" He asked quietly. I looked away from the water to glance at him.

"Han has been trying to get me away from Kamata. Twinkie has been trying to get me away from DK. It eventually started working. They both seem to think that Han is watching me for them, but they have no idea he's helping me get ready to leave entirely."

"DK? You were with him?" Sean leaned down so I he could look me dead in the eye.

"Not like that!" I sputtered quickly. "His uncle was thoroughly convinced I was going to do something incredibly stupid, so he pushed me into his nephew's little crew so they could keep an eye on me."

"What are you doing for his uncle?" Sean asked me.

"What you do for Han, but with drugs or huge sums of money. One of his guys is always with me on a run to make sure I don't try to skip town. I don't know why everyone is convinced I'm going to take off. I always came back before."

Sean started laughing. "Yeah, with a purse full of other people's wallets, the keys to some fancy car you grabbed out of a pocket-"

"Okay, you've made your point. Can you blame me, though? Our family was nuts. It was good to get away for a while. You used to do the same thing." I countered with a red face. It didn't do much to keep me warm.

"No, I definitely didn't."

"How many times has your mama had to move towns because you have a lead foot and a quick temper?" He didn't answer." That's what I thought." I added victoriously.

"At least I didn't join the mafia! That's the dumbest thing you could have done in Japan."

"I always thought the dumbest thing was Morimoto, but that's close second." He chuckled at my corny joke.

"Come on. Let's go home; you're freezing and delirious."

"I brought you out here to make a very important point, but I'm so tired I can't remember what it is. It was something hugely dramatic that referenced the Godfather." I shrugged and turned to walk back to the car with him.

"I don't know either." He chuckled and opened the passenger side door for me. I ignored it and got in the driver's side.

"No. You have a concussion."

"Come on, chicken." I taunted as I started the engine and patted the passenger seat. The evil grin on my face made him stop for a second to consider his options. He finally got in.

Z

Half an hour later Sean was seriously regretting that choice. I had taken the mountain road that Han had shown me the day I had a meltdown after the police raid. I was shooting up the mountain with a happy, evil grin stuck on my face, which probably looked demonic because of my injuries and slightly blood covered face. Sean was white faced and kept looking like he was going to bail out the second he got the chance.

Apparently Sean had never been in the car with someone while they drifted. Of course, not that many people took the turns quite as aggressively as I did. I started chuckling to myself when I saw his terrified expression. He glared at me and pointed at the windshield, telling me to watch the road.

"How'd you learn how to drift?" He asked shakily.

"Shi taught me. Outside of Rock Hill there was an old air base and Cessna graveyard that we turned into a track. We drifted around the planes and drag raced on the runways." I smiled at the memories of smoking my friends a million times on that homemade track.

Shi was a member of my dad's team that was ex Triad. He spent a lot of time sleeping off a hangover on our couch. He was an amazing driver, but he always reminded me of a dirty trial lawyer.

"Wow. Suburbville, Arizona heard of drifting before I did." He commented dryly. Rock Hill was the worst town on the planet. It was filled with snooty, white picket fenced neighborhoods where almost everyone had the 2.5 kids, a golden retriever, and membership to the country club. It was in the middle of the desert and had no reason to be so stuck up, but it was.

My friends were mostly the kids that didn't fit in with the stick thin blonde girls and broad shouldered football jocks. Dad stuck me in the town's private school the first chance he got. The public school was not bad at all; the only reason it really differed were the kids there had a little less money. He swore it was so I would be challenged more and quit doing things out of boredom. All he did was paint a target on my back for being the kid of a mechanic amid all the perfect children of doctors and lawyers.

"No, just its outcasts." I quipped.

"Don't you mean gaijin?" I rolled my eyes.

"I threw a wrench at Morimoto for calling me that." Sean started laughing. "Han was standing there and couldn't quit laughing."

"You spend a lot of time with Han?"

"He was my third friend besides Neela and Twinkie. Neela and I don't get to hang out a lot because either I'm busy, or DK's being possessive. Twinkie drags me to the garage every chance he gets."

"Twinkie was my first friend. He tried to sell me something during lunch, and I went with him to the races that night." I started laughing. "What?"

"Twinkie and I met when he tried to sell me something." I smiled at the happy memory of spending over an hour talking to Twinkie over lunch about everything under the sun.

"How'd you meet Han?" Sean glanced over to see my reaction.

"DK sent him to get me ready for a race. I literally bumped into him a week later after a bad run."

"Like, this run bad?" He pointed at my bruised cheek.

"No. What I was doing kind of hit me. I had to stop by DK's storage closet to drop my car off because it needed some body work. I hadn't told him or Twinkie that I was working for Kamata, but DK did it for me. Han took me drifting afterwards. I was kind of surprised, actually; usually people don't handle finding that out well."

"Is he working for Kamata too?"

"He works for himself. He just occasionally consults DK and pays Kamata his cut." I answered.

I came to the top of the mountain and turned around. Sean protested when I started driving back down again, but there was no way in hell I was letting him drift in my car.

I got us back to Han's in one piece, but my night of driving and sleeping on the lumpy old couch was finally catching up to me. I had to force my legs to pull me out of the car. I looked up at the loft to see Twinkie flying down the stairs. He gave Sean a quick once over, then started looking at me. He hadn't gotten a very good luck at my injuries when he had gotten back from school.

"Damn, girl." He said as touched my hairline near my stitches. "How did you not get killed?"

"There was someone else with me. If it wasn't for him, I would have been." I answered truthfully. I pulled my head away from Twinkie's hand and gave Sean a quick hug goodbye before he made his way over to his Evo. "I gotta go. I really need to get a shower and some sleep." I muttered.

"I'll drive you." Twinkie said as I hugged him goodbye too. "There is no way I'm letting you go by yourself like this."

"I'm fine. I drove back here by myself. I can make it home" That might have been convincing if I hadn't been using Twinkie as a prop.

"Don't let her go." Sean yelled from his place under the hood of his Evo._ Of course, go back to your car. It's much more important than your concussed best friend who needs a ride home. _

"Come on." Twinkie smiled at me as he pulled me to the Hulkmobile.

I laid my swollen face against the cold window as Twinkie pulled out onto the street. His furry seat covers were comfortable and inviting as I snuggled into them and started to doze off. I was vaguely aware of Twinkie turning his music down so I could sleep.

I was exhausted but for once I was happy. Han was right; this was my chance to get my life back. I was going to find a way out from under Kamata's thumb. Sean and I were back together. For the first time in a long time, I didn't feel alone. Things could only get better from here.

**AN: So I just realized some of the new snippets I added to my earlier chapters didn't save. Oops. There are some new parts to the next chapter to make up for it. **

**Please review. **


	8. Chapter 8

8

**I feel the dread of this place overpowering me. I am in fear-in awful fear-and there is no escape for me.**

**_Dracula, _****Brom Stoker**

"Ellie? You have to get up. You're not supposed to sleep like that if you have a concussion." The Australian accent floated through the pile of pillows I was surrounded by and finally dragged me out of slumber. My head and cheek was throbbing twice as bad as they were before when I at least had a little bit of adrenaline still flowing.

I groaned and sat up slowly like Frankenstein's monster. That was probably a pretty accurate description considering how blue my face was. I forced my eyes open slowly. When everything came into focus, I saw Neela sitting on the end of my bed in a button up shirt and jeans with her ever present boots on top. The sunlight was streaming in from the open door. It had to be early afternoon.

"Morning." I mumbled groggily. I ran a hand through my knotted hair that hung in twisted waves because I went to bed with it wet without so much as combing it. I also noticed I didn't unmake my bed, which explained why I was under a mountain of throw pillows.

"Afternoon." She replied with a cheeky grin. "I brought you take out." She picked up a grease spotted paper bag that had been on the floor beside her foot.

"I know I don't say this much, but you're my best friend ever. I knew there was a reason why I gave you my spare key." She laughed.

I dragged myself out of bed and into the kitchen without changing out of my sweat pants or trying to fix my hair. Neela chattered about everything that had been going on with her school friends or DK's crew while I ate silently. I nodded every once in a while even though I was much too tired to take in what she was saying. I laid my head down on the cold counter top after I finished eating and continued to block her out.

"-and then there's Han's new guy." I immediately started to listen when she mentioned Sean. My selective hearing had yet to let me down. She told me everything from when she met him in the subway to when he made her mad the other night with his speculations on how she wound up in the drift world.

"Can you believe he called me a pissed off army brat?" She asked indignantly. She seemed to really like him up to that point.

"Don't take it personally." I told her. "He almost described himself. Except he's more of a troublemaker than an army brat."

"You know him?"

"He was like another brother."

"Did he tell you why Han gave him the keys?" I peeked at her from under my elbow. Her face was lit up with curiosity.

"No. I really should have asked. I meant to ask Han the other day, but it slipped my mind."

"How is Han doing?" Neela asked innocently. I got up from my bar stool to get a bag of ice. I took my sweet time which started to get on her nerves.

"Good, I guess. I haven't really talked to him." I replied nonchalantly. I could tell she was up to something and it made me nervous.

"I talked to Twinkie the other day." A sly smile spread across her lips.

"About what?" I asked cautiously.

"He said that Han's latest fling left in a huff because she was jealous of you. Now why would some conceited supermodel would have a jealous fit over your friendship with Han?" She drawled out her question with a smug look. I knew she knew everything and was just waiting for me to say it.

"He kissed me and then got mad at her when she got possessive."

"I can't believe you made out with Han. Twinkie said there was something between the two of you," She had a wide grin pasted on her face.

"There's not. It was just a kiss. The boy always has his lips on somebody."

"Not someone under 5'10"." She teased. I let out a sigh.

I really liked Han, but there was never going to be anything there. I didn't want to wind up one of his flings that got tossed out after a week. I voiced that to Neela, but she just rolled her eyes.

"Han could use a girl like you." She replied.

"A hot mess?" I joked. She shot me a half-hearted glare. "And for the record, I think you could use a guy like Sean."

I stayed with Neela, talking and laughing like I didn't have a care in the world. At least, I did until my phone rang.

Z

It was hours later, and I couldn't quit quivering like a Chihuahua in a meat freezer.

Working for the mafia was a good job, when it was going right, but the second a problem arose, so did Kamata's temper. The man was terrifying enough to squash any thought of rebellion or any sign of incompetence I had by simply raising his voice at me, but that was never really enough for him. He had to get his threats across the most passive aggressive way possible, while waiting to tear me apart if I reacted.

Kamata was in a foul mood, which worsened considerably when I said something that he considered smart ass. He took me on a walk through his little empire of back streets through his loyal crowd of threatening subjects before he sat me down at a table to discuss the problems I had with my run with him personally. The table just happened to be in the back corner of a strip club where he forced girls to work for him.

I had to lock my muscles like they were in rigor to keep from shaking in front of him. Of course, knowing I was uncomfortable and hoping I would have a breakdown, he drug out the meeting for as long as he could.

I thought I was home free and was running for the door when a man grabbed me. It scared me so badly that I froze and he took the opportunity to spin me around and take a good look at me. They bantered back and forth for almost a full minute before I realized they were discussing numbers.

The second I was released and safely in my car, the trembling started. I was now safely on the couch of my garage and it hadn't stopped. I had nine text messages from Twink asking me to meet everyone at the garage so they could get something tweaked on Sean's Evo and then go to the mountains to practice, and I had ignored them all. I couldn't keep it together in front of them, and I especially didn't want to have a come apart in front of Sean; he had been like an over protective older brother to me, and I didn't want him to make him worry about me even more than he already was.

The plan of hiding out in my garage until I got myself calmed down was shot to hell when Twinkie called.

"Hello." I answered as steadily as possible.

"Thank God, girl. Didn't ya get my texts? We're meeting on the mountain." Twink yelled without a greeting.

"Twink, I'm tired." I whined.

"Are you sick? I can hook ya up with some lunch." He asked.

"No. I'm not, but-" I started.

"Okay. Then meet us on the mountain." I sighed as he hung up. Twinkie always made it so I couldn't tell him no when he wanted me to go somewhere. If I didn't show up, he'd come and get me.

I hauled myself up and started walking towards my car. It was only a couple of hours; I could do it.

Z

"Ellie! There you are. Come have a seat." Twink greeted me as he pulled his feet off the cooler being used as a coffee table so I could slip by and sit beside him. I propped my feet up on the cooler and crossed my arms over my chest before I exchanged a greeting with the people there, except for Han and Sean who were talking by the Evo. I was hoping the color would come back to my face before they noticed how pale I was.

They might actually not notice; they all knew what happened and were politely avoiding staring at my bruised and battered face.

I kept a forced smile on as I watched the people talk around me. I was still freaking out about what had happened earlier, and if they weren't so distracted bickering about Sean's driving they could have spotted it immediately. I tried to follow the conversations around me, but my mind kept straying.

What happened to me when I wasn't useful as a driver anymore? Would I just be shot? Would I be made to work off the debt in another part of the Yakuza's businesses? That thought sent a shudder through me as I thought of the way some of those girls looked at me. Some of them looked at me helplessly like they were begging me to do something to get them out of there, which I couldn't do. Others looked at me with pure anger and resentment because I was sort of free and they were not. I was barely surviving now; I would not be able to live like that.

"Again!" Han's voice snapped me back to present as he yelled at Sean. I wasn't paying attention and barely heard the roar of the Evo. I watched Sean flip around and turn back towards the bottom of the road. Han scraped his fingers through his hair to fix the damage done by the wind from the passing car and recrossed his arms as he watched Sean's tail lights disappear.

"Hey, Elle." He called.

"Yeah?" I answered slowly.

"Come see what we got to work with." He yelled back. I reluctantly pulled myself off the couch and stepped over the cooler to stand beside him. "How's you're head?"

"It hurts."

I snuck a glance at his handsome face from my spot next to him. His full lips were pushed together in concentration and his dark eyes were zeroed in on the first visible curve that Sean was going to be round in a few seconds. I was grateful for the distraction that Sean was providing, because the second he looked at me, he would know something had gone wrong with Kamata. He always was very good at seeing through people.

The Evo shot down the road before twisting ungracefully into the bend and lurching out at an awkward angle. I ground my teeth together at the protesting screeches the brakes made as Sean over shot the next corner. Shifting restlessly on my feet, I rubbed my eyes and hoped it would get better. It didn't.

"Again." Han yelled to him. Mouthing curses to himself, Sean smacked the steering wheel and tore off back down the mountainside to start again.

"He'll get it." I told Han quietly. I saw Han turn his head to study me from my peripheral vision.

"It'll take some time." He conceded.

"He's stubborn. He'll get it done." I promised Han with a fake smile before turning back to stretch out on the couch beside Twinkie. All I needed to clear my head was a short nap.

Z

"You got better towards the end." I informed Sean from my seat on the bottom of the stairs from Han's loft as I watched him work with renewed vengeance on the engine of the Evo. Failing to get a really decent run out of the day left him in a frustrated and cranky mood.

"Not good enough. I'm still over steering real bad on most of the corners." He growled back.

"It takes time Sean." I replied flatly. I rested my chin on my crossed arms lying on my knees as I watched him fuss over his car. He went over every part like it had the magic secret to getting everything right.

I quickly grew bored of sitting there watching him work, but I was too lazy to drag myself back up the stairs to go sit with Twink, Earl, and Reiko. Plus, Han's current fling was hovering around him. I had no idea what this one's name was, but she was a brunette that wore extremely tight clothes, had disproportionately long legs, and didn't really talk to anyone but Han; by my guess, she only had about four more days before he got bored and she was switched out for a new tight clothes wearing, long legged brunette.

I yelped in surprise as a soft, gray object came out of no where and bounced off the side of my face. The offending object happened to be the rag that Sean had been using to wipe grease off his hands. I glared up at him to see him smirking at me.

"What was that for?" I yelled at him.

"I asked you four times to grab me some water, then I realized you'd been staring into space without blinking for several minutes. I was making sure you hadn't died on me." He defended as he crossed his arms.

"I'm obviously still breathing." I snapped back before grabbing the chain railing and hauling myself to my feet. "I'll go get your freaking water."

"Thank you." He called at my back as I trudged up the steps. I rolled my eyes at him.

"I'm drinking the last water." Earl stopped arguing with Reiko long enough to yell from his table across the loft as he held it up to show me.

"Sorry, Sean. I'll get you some out of the sink." I suggested as I leaned over the railing. He dismissively flipped his hand at me without looking away from the car to tell me he didn't want any.

I left my place at the railing to wander over towards the bathroom. I saw Han walking the opposite way down the hall and scooted over to let him pass me. Instead of continuing out to the loft, he grabbed my arm and pulled me further down the hall.

"Tell me the truth." He said bluntly as he let me go to lean against the wall behind him. I frowned as I looked up to meet his dark eyes.

"It's honestly nothing." I lied. His gaze didn't waver.

"You've been shaking all day and you look terrified; you don't get like that from nothing. You're too strong of a girl." He deadpanned. I chewed on my bottom lip as I debated whether or not to lie to him.

"Everybody has their good days and their bad." I responded blandly. He obviously didn't believe me and continued waiting patiently for an answer.

"He was just-" I paused as I tried to think of a way to say it. "He made me sit across from him in the booth of one of his clubs and personally tell him what went wrong. He didn't do anything to me, besides be an asshole." I finally drug out.

"Strip club where he was selling prostitutes?" Han asked as he raised his eyebrows. He took my silence as a yes. He took his time to answer as he ran his hand through his hair again.

"Psychological abuse counts as doing something, Elle." He finally said.

"I'm just worried about what happens next time I screw up." I muttered in exasperation. "It was like he was showing me my endpoint."

He leaned forward to pull me into a hug. Not caring that I looked like a defenseless little kid, I wrapped my arms tightly around his waist and rested my head on his chest. I was overwhelmed by the smell of his amazing cologne.

"That's not your endpoint." He replied stubbornly. I tried to pull back from the hug which had lasted way to long for me to not look desperate, but he wouldn't completely let go. "You're going to be okay." He told me firmly.

"I'm okay now. Just, for a little while-" I trailed off with a grimace. I knew he understood.

He leaned down and pressed his lips against mine as my face heated up like it was on fire, which made me suddenly grateful for the poor lighting in the hallway. I wasn't sure if kissing Han was going to become a regular thing, but I was kind of hoping it did.

He ended it quickly and pulled back to look at me.

"You're sure your okay?" He asked again.

"Yeah, it just freaked me out. I'm good now." I replied as nonchalantly as I could possibly manage, which wasn't very.

"Call me next time he does this." He told me firmly.

"I'm not going to give him a reason to." I answered more confidently.

"It's not your fault. You know that, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, it's him being a passive aggressive asshole, but I'm going to avoid pissing him off." I responded. He nodded.

"You sticking around?" He asked as he finally let go of me completely.

"No, I was up all night and with Reiko, Earl, and Twinkie arguing I didn't get much of a nap." I answered tiredly.

"Can see that." He replied smoothly. "You're going to be there tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure." I almost stuttered.

"The docks. No later than eight-thirty. We're getting started early." He told me as he started walking back towards the loft.

"Good luck dragging Twinkie out of bed." I joked at his back.

"I'll need it." He replied. I laughed a little.

I watched him turn the corner and head back to the loft. I felt considerably better after talking to him.

It was nice to know that in this unpredictable lifestyle I had been thrust into, I at least had someone to count on.


	9. Stormy Weather

**This hurricane's chasing us all underground**

**_Hurricane_**

**30 Seconds to Mars**

**Z **

Kamata gave me very little time off. He waited just long enough to make sure my head injury wasn't going to give me seizures and sent me out again. This time I had a new babysitter; a thin, tall guy that had a habit of staring at my breasts when he thought I wasn't looking. He was younger than the other guy, and I didn't like it. The other guy was more likely to chastise me for speeding like a dad than he was to try and get in my pants. I was honestly scared to be alone with the new one.

The reality was I might end up alone with him for a long time; there was a hurricane barreling for the coast due to make land fall at any time

The first bit of rain started when my Yakuza babysitter and I were a few miles away from the warehouse to drop the duffel bags I was running for Kamata. It quickly worsened to the point where I couldn't see out my windshield. It was coming down so hard that the trip from my trunk to the warehouse left me soaked to the bone and freezing cold.

After dropping off the bags and the Yakuza at a warehouse filled with stolen goods, I was told to stay or go home. Home sounded so warm and comfortable and inviting, but unfortunately it was halfway across the city. The storm was making it extremely difficult to drive and I knew it would take at least two hours to get there with the wind as fierce as it was. The Yakuza knew this, and was already pushing two couches together to make a bed.

I was feeling the same icy cold feeling in my veins as I was when Kamata took me to be appraised and I knew I would rather die in flood waters than stay. Without telling the Yakuza, I slipped out ran to the car.

With no where else to go to get out the storm, I turned towards Han's. I thought about calling Twinkie, to tell him I was coming, but multitasking just wasn't a good idea.

The lightening and wind had worsened by the time I parked in front of the club. The parking lot was completely empty; apparently the party was cancelled and Han had put his Mazda inside. I got a spot close to the wall of a neighboring building where the wind was blocked and the car was covered by the building's roof, but there was no way I wasn't going to get resoaked when I made a run for the door. I debated calling Twinkie and telling him I was there and to make sure the door was unlock, but a bright flash of lightening struck something nearby with an earsplitting crack. Spending another minute in my car didn't seem very safe, so I decided to risk it.

With a deep breath of preparation, I opened my door and flung myself out in the rain. The water flowing through the lot completely covered my poor battered Converse and made running difficult. The last few feet to the door were taken in a headlong leap as I tripped over something covered by the water. I caught myself on the door knob and started yanking at it only to find it was actually locked.

I groaned as I pulled out the bobby pin holding my wet bangs out of face and rammed it in the door lock. I paused for a second as I mentally debated whether or not Han would care that I was picking his lock, but then another flash of lightening lit up the sky. I just decided I'd tell him he left it unlocked.

The door swung inward with no resistance as the wind hit it and I had to struggle to reclose it. I made sure to relock it before I leaned back against it, shivering from the touch of the cold metal.

The few minutes spent out in the rain had left water running out of my hair and dripping off of me. A puddle was already forming at my feet, and I could feel the water getting soaked up by my socks as it seeped through my drenched Converse. I leaned my weight against the door to start pulling my socks and shoes off, before I tracked the water everywhere.

"Ellie?" A voice called from the door way of the storage room into the dark club.

"Oh, shit!" I screamed as I jumped at the shock of seeing Han, who had apparently come to check out the noise of the door slamming open, a few feet away from me. The tiny movement knocked me off balance and I slid straight to the ground.

"What are you doing here?" He asked as he helped me up. I felt my cheeks heat up with embarrassment.

"I had a run. It was late and dark and the storm hit and this was closer and I'm really sorry, I should have called." The words tumbled out between the chattering off my teeth.

"He sent you out in this weather? God, your soaking wet." He muttered as he rubbed his hands on my arms to warm me up.

"I was supposed to be back before landfall, but the wind slowed me down." I explained quietly. "Sorry I just showed up; home was too far." I added as an after thought.

"There's always room for another person here. Besides, we're going to be stuck here for a few days; I need someone sane to talk to." He answered kindly. I moved a little bit closer to him for the body heat he was emitting. He noticed and pulled me into a hug. "Is your car okay? How'd you get in?"

"It should be. Parked it against the other building where it would block the rain. I really don't want to go move it right now." I felt his chin dip closer to the top of my head as he nodded. "I got in with a bobby pin, but it won't hurt your lock." I answered as I smushed myself against his warm, dry chest. I was still shivering.

"I don't care about the lock." He said in exasperation. "Why didn't you call?"

"I couldn't talk and drive with all of that." I waved my hand at the door. A well timed crack of thunder sounded. "And the lightening was so bad I didn't want to spend another second in my car."

"It's supposed to get worse." He said as his hand moved up to brush my wet hair out of my face. I groaned.

"Great." I said sarcastically. "I'll go home when there's a break." I told him. He let me out of the hug and started pulling me towards the VIP Room. I dropped my shoes and socks by the door so they wouldn't drip anymore than they already had.

"You're not leaving until it's over." He said firmly. I snorted as I pressed myself against his side, not caring that I was getting water all over him. "You're probably going to be sick until then anyway." He added as he looked down at me, which was pointless because none of the lights were on.

"It's just a little water." I responded nonchalantly as we pushed through the door into the garage, even though I was still shaking and trying to soak up ever bit of body heat I could from him. He chuckled humorlessly and shoved me towards the bathroom.

"Go take a hot shower. You left your laundry here; I can just toss you some clothes in." He commanded.

"I'll clean up the water when I get out." I responded. I could barely see him in the dark, but it looked like he shook his head no.

"I got that; you just get warm." He told me firmly.

Z

Half an hour later after thawing out under the warm water and making sure every trace of water was gone afterwards, the cold feeling hadn't completely left. My head was also pounding right behind my eyes and at the base of my skull as a migraine started.

I kept my aching head down in my hands as I stumbled out to the loft. It had to have been three in the morning at that point, and everyone was asleep, so I was careful not to bump into anything as I made my way to the couch.

I was almost to it when a shadow moved. My muscles tightened when it startled me, but then relaxed when I realized it was Han after a flash of lightening.

"You have got to stop scaring me." I muttered quietly as I felt behind me for the couch opposite his. I found the edge of the cushion and perched on it.

"You scare too easy." He replied in amusement.

"You keep popping out of the shadows." I countered. He chuckled and carefully stood up, skirted around the coffee table, and came to stand in front of me. He felt out in front of him for me, and I gave him my hands. Before I knew it, he had pulled me up and was steering me towards the hallway his room was on.

"You might be right about me being sick for the rest of the storm." I muttered as I snuggled my aching head further against his side as he put an arm around me. I felt less like I was going to fall down the stairs when I was that close to him.

"I figured." He replied quietly. "You were soaking wet and shivering; plus, the fact that you don't eat or sleep isn't exactly help either."

"I'm sure Twink'll force feed me all sorts of weird Japanese food while I'm here, so that'll fix the not eating thing; though I'm not sure I'll get much sleep with him, Earl, Reiko, and Sean around." I joked.

"No one will bother you in my room. I'll be careful not to wake you up in the morning." So he was staying there with me. I had wondered if he actually would. I had been expecting the "you're underage" conversation from him to happen any day. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he brought it up while I was in bed with him.

Han maneuvered us to his door in the complete blackness. After he opened his door, he slid in first and gently guided me around a laundry basket on the floor. He helped me get settled on one side of the bed before he walked around to get on the other.

My eyelids drooped as I got comfortable. They completely dropped shut when Han dragged a blanket off the end of the bed and covered us. I was actually a little glad that the I didn't make it home.

The wind seemed to pick up speed it slammed into the closed garage doors below and lightening struck something nearby. I briefly thought about my car, then quit caring; I had several others and my Skyline was my least favorite.

The storm could rage on as long as it wanted for all I cared; right now, I was completely comfortable and safe drifting off to sleep right beside Han.

**AN: I hope some of you are still with me. I started working full time and my very long shifts have made reupdating very difficult. This next chapter will contain a lot of new material, so it may take a little while. **

**Please please review. This hasn't gotten a lot because it's a repost, but I really miss reading what you have to say about it.**


	10. Turning Tables

**10**

**I can't keep up with your turning tables.**

**Adele**

**Z**

I was expecting to be woken up with a conversation about how Han was too old for school girls to be in his bed, but instead I got Earl making a scary face leaning over me with a flashlight. I'd slept around ten hours by that point and was absolutely starving. I was also feeling horrible after not getting much sleep, not eating much, and getting soaking wet during the run.

I passed the next few days goofing off with the team by the light of a battery powered camping lantern and a dozen candles while the storm raged on. I ended up sleeping on a futon in Han's storage room. When I left, he promised me it would always be open to me.

He threw up a wall after that night. I knew it was coming; our age gap was too much for him. He hadn't mentioned it since Sean had been back, but in the early months when my crush was just beginning, he made sure to mention not dating school girls to DK in front of me a few times. He wasn't trying to be cruel; he was trying to save my feelings. Liking Han was honestly the worst thing I could do to my emotions.

That hadn't stopped me from liking him. He was one of the few people I felt safe and completely comfortable with. He gave me butterflies when he looked at me. And he caused me a lot discomfort when he dragged his slutty models around in front of me.

One night it was really awful. The loft was filled with its usual swarm of pre-race people; Twink was running around selling things, the residents of the loft were laying around on the couches, models were walking around with champagne glasses, and Han was sitting on his favorite loveseat with a model on either side of him. Unfortunately, Han's many girls were ridiculously hard to ignore.

I had been sharing an arm chair with Reiko, laughing and joking with Earl and Jimmy, until they left to do some last minute tuning on Earl's car. Minutes later Han had shown up with two accented brunettes from God knows where and made himself comfortable. They both had on tight, low cut dresses that Han's eyes kept wandering over when he thought no one was looking. It managed to make me insanely jealous at the attention they were getting and very self-conscious of the modest outfit I was wearing that consisted of dark jeans and an ACDC v neck shirt.

I was having to force myself to act normal as Han alternated between having a conversation with me and kissing one of the girls. My face and neck kept getting hot as the blush I got when I was angry or annoyed spread across my skin. I thought I was doing a good job of pretending it wasn't there, but several times I caught Reiko smirking at me looking like a kid that had just been told a secret.

"Are you going to the races tonight?" Reiko finally interrupted our conversation about the newest body style on the Nissan Skyline. She slid off the chair and started walking over to her bunk to grab her makeup bag and her curling iron,

"That's tonight isn't it?" I groaned as I spread out into the space Reiko had been taking up. I was too tired to bother with getting dressed to go and I knew DK would have a stroke if I showed up looking like I was.

"You're not very good at keeping track of days are you?" Han said condescendingly. I had missed one of Sean's practice rounds earlier that week. Apparently Sean drove Han crazy worrying that something had happened to me.

"I just missed it once." I defended lamely. I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep lately from the hours I had been working and hadn't exactly been concerned about when I said I'd show up to watch Sean. He shook his head.

"This week." He added jokingly. One of the girls giggled.

I opened my mouth to make a snide comment when I got a text. I sighed and wrestled my phone out of my pocket.

**DK:****_ Get here. Need you to help with new transmission in Z._**

There went my plan of getting a new car to replace my Z that needed repairing tonight.

While DK wasn't my boss, it wasn't a good idea to snub him. My stubborn refusal to be nice to him and his awful friends was driving Kamata absolutely crazy. It was so much easier to just spend an hour helping DK now than to not show up and get a lecture and a slap to the face from Kamata later. At least Neela would be there.

I felt Han's eyes on me as he waited for me to tell him if the text was a call in to work or not. I ignored him and continued staring at my phone.

With Neela there, I still might be able to make it to the races. She was a life saver when it came to girly crap I never bothered learning like clothes to wear to the races. If she let me borrow something, than I could avoid going home and be in time for some of the earlier races.

My phone vibrated again in my hand.

**DK:****_ You'd better be here in 15 minutes. _**

I glanced up to see Han had finally grown bored of watching me play with my phone and was refilling the models' champagne glasses. I winced in disgust when one of the girls started rubbing her hand down his neck. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Where are you going?" He asked when he saw me jump up and start to leave.

"I got places to be." I answered vaguely.

"We'll see you at the races later?" He asked without looking away from the model on his left.

"No idea." I answered flatly before hurried down the stairs to my car. I wasn't looking forward to spending the next few hours at DK's, and it was going to be a lot less fun if he was pissed because I was late.

Z

"There. It's done." I huffed as I tossed my wrench on a nearby table and started to stretch the kinks out of my back.

I glanced over to see DK too busy flirting with Neela to respond. I sighed as I ran my hand through my hair tiredly. After rushing me over here, he hadn't looked at me since he gave me the order; he had been driving Neela crazy as she tried to do her homework. The more she ignored him, the harder he tried to get her attention.

A light bulb went off in my brain, then quickly burnt out.

It was a horrible idea; ignore someone like that only worked if they knew you were there in the first place. Though Han's attention wasn't that hard to get.

"I'm done." I yelled louder. His head snapped towards me. "What time is it? I was hoping to get a replacement for the Z that got trashed a few runs ago." I asked.

"The races don't start until I get there, remember?" He answered cockily in Japanese as he walked over to his precious Z and ran his hands over the engine. I rolled my eyes when I was sure he couldn't see.

"Need something to wear?" Neela asked without looking up from her laptop.

"If you have something." I answered hopefully.

"Yeah." She shut closed her laptop and shoved it back in her school bag before looking at me with a smile. "If you're coming with me, we need to leave now." She pointed to her car. "You can just ride with me, and I'll drop you off back here."

"Works for me." I responded tiredly as I started for her car. I glanced over my shoulder to see DK pull her into a hug for a goodbye kiss. I rolled my eyes again. Within a minute, she had joined me in the car and we were flying out of DK's garage.

"Tight jeans and maybe a low-cut halter top okay?" Neela asked as she sped towards DK's grandmother's.

"I was thinking I'd wear a skirt this time." I suggested nervously, hoping she wouldn't ask. She flashed me a smile and I knew there was no chance of that.

"Why the sudden change?" She asked slyly.

"I can't choose to wear a skirt?" I answered like I had no idea what she was talking about.

"Reiko texted me to ask if you were with me. She said you were talking to Han and left with no explanation." She glanced away from the road to gauge my expression, obviously knowing he was the cause of my style change. "What'd he do?"

"He was kind of an ass." I said bluntly.

"That's not like him." She replied.

"He was teasing me, but he was kind of a douche bag about it." I continued with a sneer. She shook her head.

"I wouldn't talk to him at all tonight." She advised. I heaved a frustrated sigh.

"I'm not." I answered honestly.

I was getting really frustrated with my crush on Han. I knew having any kind of feelings for him was pretty dangerous; I had watched him toss countless girl to the curb. But for some reason, it wouldn't go away.

_I'll just have to survive tonight, I guess._

Z

Neela did an amazing job picking out an outfit for me. I usually got stares when I showed up because of a few of the rumors circulating about me, but this time their eyes stayed on me.

I had curled my hair into loose curls and worn several layers of mascara and whore red lipstick. I had borrowed some sky high stripper heels, skin tight, short black leather shorts and a gray button up top partially opened to show a ton of cleavage and a lacy bralette. I began wishing I had worn pants whenever a draft would come through the parking garage.

I had missed the early races of the night, but I did manage to get into a later one for a Silvia. I was spending the extra time completely focused on my Rx-8. It was my favorite car to just drive around town in, and if I lost, I was not going to be happy.

"Nice engine. Was that turbo in it when you first got the car?" A Japanese accented voice came from behind me.

I glanced over my shoulder to see a clean, cut Japanese guy who looked like he was about twenty standing behind me. He looked a little like one of DK's guys: dark jeans, leather jacket, gelled hair, lead singer of the Artic Monkeys vibe, but he didn't radiate arrogance quite like they did.

"It was actually." I answered with a smile.

"Masaru." He said as he offered his hand.

"Ellie." I shook it.

He launched into a conversation about the car. He was very easy to talk to; he was always making me laugh. At some point, I accidentally met Han's eye across the parking garage. He was leaning against someone's car with a bag of snacks, and despite the girls surrounding him and DK, he was staring at me. I quickly jerked my head back to the car and refocused on what Masaru was saying.

I liked Masaru; he was talkative, friendly, and a bit of a goof ball. Unfortunately, he was one of those annoying touchy people that had to have his hand on the person he was talking to. It made me cringe when he put his hand in the middle of my back as we leaned over the engine, but I could tolerate it. When he wrapped his arm around my waist after we closed the hood and turned around to lean on it and watch the people, I wanted to shove him off the hood of my car.

"Aren't you cold?" He asked me when I tried to wiggle out of his grip.

"My legs are. You aren't helping that." I answered in a joking tone as I continued trying to get him to loosen up.

"Masaru, I think you should let her go already." We both glanced up to see Han standing a few feet away with his bag of chips. "Underage school girls aren't usually your type anyway." He added as he gaze shifted to me.

Masaru's arm was instantly gone from my waist. He made some pitiful excuse about having to find a friend and vanished. I was so busy glaring at Han I didn't even look to see which direction he went.

"What the hell?" I spat after Han refused to offer an explanation. He shrugged. "You've been an ass all damn day."

"Sorry." He responded without conviction.

"You're as bad as DK about not letting me talk to someone outside the crew." I snapped, knowing that it would strike a nerve. He cringed.

"I'm not DK." He replied firmly, obviously annoyed at the comparison.

"Obviously not; you have a massive problem with 'underage school girls'." I replied sarcastically. "Though I don't really qualify as a school girl." I reminded. He pressed his lips together.

He didn't respond. Angry at his silence, I spun around as well as I possibly could in Neela's high heeled shoes and attempted to stalk off to see how far away my race was. I got three steps before he caught my arm. I looked over my shoulder to glare up at him.

"You think he had good intentions for you?" He asked seriously. I laughed in his face.

"You think anyone here has good intentions for anyone else?" I shot back.

"Elle, you don't want to get involved with that guy; he's worse than Morimoto." He tried a different approach. I rolled my eyes.

"You don't get to call me Elle, right now." I bit out. "I can handle Morimoto." I reminded. He just shrugged. I exhaled slowly trying to get less angry.

"Sean would kill me if I let something happen to you." He reminded.

"Nothing's going to happen; I'm armed and everyone know I'm connected to the mafia." I replied stubbornly. Han ran a hand through his hair, frustration starting to show.

"You are impossible to deal with." He sighed.

"You're not any better. Do you know how hard it is to argue with someone who refuses to talk back?" He shook his head.

"Hey, Ellie." I heard a guy call. I turned around to see Masaru back again.

"DK sent me to tell you your race is next." He told me quietly.

"Finally." I muttered as I glanced back at Han.

"Did I interrupt something?" Masaru asked slowly.

"Of course not." I answered before Han could. I ignored him and stood up, adjusting my shirt.

"Can I get a lift back up?" Masaru asked as he ran his hand over the door handle to the passenger side. I nodded and he opened the door.

I glanced at Han once more as I dug my keys out of my pocket. To my surprise, he stopped me by placing both hands gently at the bottom border of my rib cage.

"I'm serious. Take care of yourself." He muttered before he gave me a quick peck on the lips. Horrified by the display of public affection that would definitely end up being reported to Kamata, I shrunk back from his touch. Seeming to understand my panic, he let go instantly of my waist.

"Good luck, Elle." He muttered against my lips after he pulled away. Before I could string together a reply, he had walked away and was disappearing in the crowds toward the elevator.

"Sorry, I didn't realize you two were anything." Masaru stated awkwardly when I got in the car. I waved him off like it was nothing as a blush spread across my neck.

"We aren't anything at all. Watch him; he does that to all his female friends." I gave him a thin smile despite my heart pounding in my chest.

Masaru was obviously nothing like Morimoto. So why would Han say he was worse?

A smirk spread across my face as I started the engine. I think I liked jealous Han.

AN: This chapter was previously the fic Turning Tables, but I changed a lot of it. The first time around I really don't think I spent enough time addressing their age difference which is something that should have been more of a problem for Han.


	11. Chasing Pavements

**11**

**Should I give up, or should I just keep chasing pavements, even if it leads nowhere?**

**Adele**

**Z**

The sounds of tools crashing echoed through the garage. Sean and Twinkie's laughter at Reiko and Earl's constant insults added to the din. I sighed impatiently as I replaced the wrench I was using and wiped my hands on a rag.

They were driving me crazy. Usually, the only reason I came to Han's garage was to escape the silence of my own, but this place felt suffocating today. It didn't help that I was still angry with Han after the way he acted at the races; I did not belong to him, and it bothered me that he acted like I did. After everything I had been through, not having control scared me.

It also scared me how pushy Masaru was being about seeing me again. Every suggestion he had involved being completely alone not in public with alcohol nearby. He kept his goofy demeanor, but there it was definitely a front.

"Hey, yo it ain't my fault!" Twinkie yelled over his shoulder as he flew down the steps towards the car I was working on, with Earl hot on his heels.

"Really, wanker? Ain't your fault?" Earl taunted.

Twinkie ducked under the car I had been tuning, first using the pole holding the car aloft as a shield from Earl, and then using me. Earl cackled as he shook up a soda. My eyes widen as I took in what was about to happen and I trying to make a break for it. Twinkie grabbed my hips, pulled me back in front of him, and ducked down behind me.

"Hey now. Don't hurt the innocent." Twinkie warned as he peeked out from behind me.

"Don't you dare, Earl." I warned through gritted teeth as I narrowed my eyes at him, hoping he would get the message. He grinned.

"What are you going to do if I do?" He asked smugly, thinking he had me.

"I know where the body dumps are. Are you sure you want to find out?" I bit out. A pounding headache started at the base of my skull. I was not in the mood to deal with them today.

"What kind of a threat is that?" Earl prodded, finally pausing the drink shaking. Twinkie saw this as a golden opportunity to grab the can before he ever had a chance to open it. He lunged, forcing Earl to jerk backwards defensively; a motion that sent that can flying out of his can and onto the concrete at my feet.

The can exploded on impact, splattering dark brown liquid all over my Vans, dark jeans, and mint green shirt. A hot, angry flush spread across my neck as I looked down at my stained clothes. My blood boiled even hotter when I noticed that both of them had managed to jump back and escape the spray. Earl noticed as well and began to laugh at the scene in front of him. Or, at least he did until he caught my expression; then he ran for safety with Twink following close behind.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?" I yelled after them. "Clean this up!" I ordered. A door slammed in the hall and I knew they couldn't hear it.

"Great. Just great." I muttered as I made my way back up the loft stairs to get a change of clothes.

"It might wash out." Sean offered as he tightened something on the Evo.

"But still," I answered as I grabbed my bag from a cabinet. He nodded in understanding. "Every time I wear a color besides black, this happens." I gestured down at myself.

"It could be worse." He reminded casually.

"Yeah, but I'm still unhappy they made it out unscathed." I muttered as I headed for that bathroom.

"Can't go there." Sean called to stop me. I raised an eyebrow at him. "They locked themselves in. You've got wicked aim with a wrench." I rolled my eyes as I tried to remember a time when I had used a wrench as a projectile against them after they'd done something stupid. I immediately thought of five and realized they were probably right to seek safety behind a closed door. It sucked because the storage room Han promised me would be open to me was actually being used to store massive piles of boxes at the moment. It was mostly likely where Twinkie was getting his merchandise to sell and it was definitely illegal.

"Han." I began. He reluctantly looked away from his current girl. "Can I change in your room?" He glanced back at his girl before nodding.

I took a deep, steadying breath as I tried to force my irritation at him back under. He was completely ignoring me after I called him on bad behavior.

I had managed to catch his attention for a grand total of ten minutes, and then it turned right back to his current leggy brunette. He knew he slipped up by letting it show that he cared about me, so now he was overcompensating. I had about had enough of him.

I chewed on my lip as I waited for him to pry himself off the couch and slowly make his way over to me. He didn't speak as he made his way down the hallway, but I didn't really expect him to. That didn't stop me from glaring at his back for his refusal to talk to me as he unlocked his door. My glaring was cut short by a text from Masaru.

**Hey. Still considering my offer? I'm through at DK's in twenty minutes.** I glanced up at Han's back to make sure he hadn't noticed, and then turned my attention back to my phone.

I was not happy to have him still trying to get me, but I was not going to let Han know that. Instead I was going to pretend like I was having the best time of my life and he was not involved. We'd see how well that went over.

"That boy must be pretty special to get a smile like that out of you." Han stated casually. A blush hit my face and pressed my lips together. I hadn't realized I was smiling that much at the thought of making him jealous.

A smile tugged at the corners of Han's mouth as he pushed the door open for me, but it seemed forced. I muttered a quiet thank you and slipped in, tossing my bag on his bed. After hearing the soft click of the door behind me, I yanked my shirt over my head and tossed it carelessly on the floor.

"I've been thinking." Han began from the other side of the door. "It's been a long time since we went drifting."

"I've been busy." I answered honestly as I dug through my bag.

"We could go tonight?" He suggested. I opened my mouth to reply when my phone went off again.

**Done early. There's a great restaurant in Shibuya that you might like. Text me when you finish with the Toyota**. My stomach growled as I stared at my phone. I still felt awful from having a headache and not getting much sleep from a run, but dinner in a public place being paid for by someone else sounded great. I could ditch him immediately after informed him I didn't want any kind of contact with him again because he creeped me out. I'd end this problem before it got started.

"Masaru's probably taking me to dinner." I answered absent mindedly as I typed out a reply.

"Why?" He asked with an arrogant snort.

"Just because you didn't hit it off with him, doesn't mean that I didn't either." I didn't hit I off with him, but for all he knew I could have.

He muttered something unintelligible and a smirk started forming on my face. My finger was hovering over the send button, but then I started thinking telling him off during a date might not be such a good idea. I deleted his messages and tossed my phone to the side.

"I like him. He's nice and fun." I continued as I pulled some clean clothes out of my bag.

"He's also one of DK's little puppies and he's got a horrible temple." Han's voice floated through the door. I chuckled quietly as I pulled off my sticky jeans and grabbed the clean pair.

"I don't understand why you hate him so much. He doesn't act like one of DK's boys." I commented as I forced my legs into the jeans. I had them buttoned and my soda covered shirt pulled over my head before I heard any kind of movement on Han's side of the door.

"How long do you think that's going to last?" He asked me as he pushed the door open. "Sorry." He muttered as he ducked behind the door to give me more privacy.

Angrily, I grabbed the clean shirt and threw it on as quickly as I could.

"What are you doing? I wasn't dressed!" I snapped as I turned around to face him.

"What are you doing? He shot back. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Can't handle the fact I caught another guys attention?" I replied dryly.

"When I said he was worse than Morimoto, it wasn't a lie." He told me.

"He's kind, and goofy, and so normal." I countered. Han sighed.

"How is that what you find attractive?" He asked incredulously as he folded his arms and leaned back against the door. "Most girls would go for him because he thinks he's a badass."

"You really consider that badass? Have you seen his hair?" I snorted a little bit of laughter. He shook his head. "I'm not really attracted to people like DK."

"DK doesn't qualify." He deadpanned.

"And who does?" He met my gaze steadily as the corners of his lips pulled up.

Our spat was interrupted by my phone beeping with a text again. The tiny hint of a smirk vanished as his eyebrows furrowed in annoyance.

**Damn, that boy's persistent. Han was right to call him a puppy.** I thought as I grabbed my and deleted the message without reading it. I tossed it back on the bed.

"You don't need to go with him." Han deadpanned.

"Why?" I blurted. His irritated expression softened. "I know you have a lot against DK and his crew, but give me one solid reason why I should stay away."

He closed the door and when he turned back to me his dark eyes scanned my face in the soul searing way they had. I felt completely transparent under his gaze, like he saw through my little attempt at getting a reaction from him. I was terrified he was going to call me on my plan, but instead he sat on the bed.

"He seems new to the racing scene because he just got out of prison. He beat a girl almost to death when she wanted to leave him." I could feel the cocky expression sliding off of my face as the blood drained. "His dad's a sex trafficker, so he thinks he's entitled to everything."

"Were you not going to tell me any of this?" I snapped at him as I thought of what could have happened if I had actually agreed to go with him and then tried to end all contact. My knees felt weak so I sunk down on the bed next to him.

He reached a comforting hand up to my shoulder. "I was going to tell you before you left tonight when you were not surrounded by the others."

"Han, I'm not sure you would have noticed me leaving. That would have been bad because I was going to meet Masaru and tell him exactly what I thought of his sketchiness over dinner."

"So you already knew he was trouble and you were going anyway." He rubbed his temples like I was giving him a headache.

"Knowing something was trouble has never stopped me before." The words came out a lot more loaded than I meant for them to. Based on the twitch of his lips he caught it and wasn't about to let it go. Knowing I was turning bright red from embarrassment and the damage was already done, I decided to dig my grave a little deeper. "Trouble's always a hell of a lot more fun."

He exhaled through his clenched teeth. I started thinking of comebacks to whatever scolding he was going to try to do, but instead he chuckled. Afraid I was about to be told I was acting like a child, I raised my eyebrows expectantly at him.

Instead of a verbal reply, he put both hands on the side of my face and bent down close to me, resting his forehead on mine. Shocked by his closeness, I tried to look away but he wouldn't let me.

"You need to know exactly what you get into when you go looking for trouble." He said slowly.

"You make your choices and you don't look back." I quote him against his lip right before he closed the gap between us.

It was demanding and sensual; completely different from any kiss we'd ever had. My heart pounded as I returned it. Unconsciously, I moved onto his lap, arched against him, and put my hands on his chest. One of his arms snaked around my waist and pulled me flush against him while the other moved to the back of my neck.

I was almost out of air when my phone beeped again. We broke apart and stared at the phone.

"Well, he's as bullheaded as you are." Han deadpanned.

"Be nice." I demanded as I smacked him on the chest jokingly before wrapping my arms around his neck and slamming my lips on his. He happily obliged, returning it just as fiercely. We were interrupted once again by my phone ringing.

"Ignore it." Han muttered against my lips.

"I can't." I reminded as I moved out of his lap and reached for my phone from the other side of the bed. "It could be Kamata."

I snatched it and flipped it open. I was about to say hello when Han moved closer and started working his lips on my neck.

"Hey. I was starting to think you'd fallen asleep." Masaru stated, not giving me a chance to speak anyway.

"No, I've been busy. I still have some things to work out." I moved the phone away from my mouth. "Like assholish behavior." I muttered to Han so Masaru couldn't hear me. He nipped my neck and I smacked him.

"Want to take a break and go out?" Masaru asked arrogantly like he knew what the answer was going to be.

"I don't think so tonight." I replied. "Or anytime this week. I have a lot more to get done and my time off is about over."

"Do you actually work that much?" He sounded angry and like he was about to start shit. I was suddenly really glad I didn't go in person.

"Yeah. Sometimes I don't get to sleep for days. I spend more time driving than I do doing anything else. Dinner or anything else is going to be hard to plan. Thank you for asking though. Maybe I'll see you at the races." I answered before I hung up.

"You dropped him pretty quickly." Han whispered in my ear, obviously pleased with himself.

"He was annoyingly clingy and gave a lot of mixed signals." I deadpanned as I got up and grabbed my bag that now contained dirty clothes. I gave him a quick kiss as I bent over to get the bag.

"He was worse than that. You can trust me to keep the dogs off of you. And to know when to apologize." He replied as he stood, obviously catching the real meaning of my statement. I hummed noncommittally in response. "Want to go to the mountains?"

The trip was obviously his apology for shutting me out the past few days and for being overstepping boundaries around Masaru, and I appreciated it, but I didn't want to ruin the truce we'd just made by saying or doing something stupid during the drive.

"I'm tired tonight." I told him as I reached for the door handle. I stood on my toes and kissed him deeply one last time. "But I think you owe me a rain check." I whispered against his lips.

"Just you and me." He nodded slowly in response, almost meeting my lips against. I noticed his closeness and quickly pulled back and left him standing in his bedroom alone. I made sure I tossed him a cocky smirk over my shoulder.

I had had my doubts about whether or not flirting with Han was worth the confusion, but, I think I got my answer. I just hoped I didn't end up getting hurt from it.


	12. Birthdays

12

_Oh Sean. Why do you do this to me? Every time. _I mentally cussed Sean from my spot overlooking the garage on Han's loft. A grease covered Sean was hard at work on the Evo. He had been for _four hours_. I had spent most of that time sprawled on the loft couch waiting for him to hurry.

It was my seventeenth birthday and also Halloween. It was weird not having in of our strange family traditions today. I had refused to celebrate it with anything big like some people had wanted. Sean had been supposed to take me out for dinner, but instead had left me waiting for him in a nice, new dress and heels. I should have known better than to dress up.

I could feel the loft practically shaking with the sound of Han's Halloween party. A bunch of models were swarming the VIP room in tiny dresses and animal ears. I kept telling Han that he should just skipped the Halloween party and just have his big birthday party. He just laughed and told me it would it would still be the biggest party in Tokyo that night. Our birthdays were only two weeks apart.

I was in the middle of glaring at Sean's back when Twinkie walked up and pulled me in a hug.

"Happy Birthday, baby girl. Feelin' any older?"

"Yeah. After waiting on Sean these past couple hours I feel _ancient_." I exaggeratedly drew out the last word at his back. Twinkie started laughing, I had been making comments like that at him for the past hour and a half and it was driving him crazy.

"I heard that." Sean yelled. I rolled my eyes.

"You two are something else." He joined me on leaning on the railing. "You look good by the way." He pointed at my new dress. It was black and fit very tightly.

"Thanks. Figured I'd try something new."

We filled the next ten minutes with companionable chatter. Twinkie made several attempts to drag me out to the dance floor in the VIP room, but I stubbornly refused. Finally he gave me another birthday hug and walked back to the party to chase some models.

"Hurry up before I die of old age." I called down to Sean.

"I think old age is the least of your worries." Han teased from behind me as he tapped the side of my temple that held the scar from the encounter with the Osaka Yakuza. I jumped slightly. When I turned around I was expecting to see women hanging off of him, but he was actually alone.

"Yeah, heart attacks are also on the table." I teased back. He chuckled and handed me a full glass of champagne. I took it and started sipping.

"Why don't you come back to the party." He said as he glanced at Sean over the railing.

"He's got maybe fifteen minutes left, then a shower, then he'll be done." I answered.

"I'm done now. I'll be ready to leave in a minute." He said in exasperation. I thought I heard him mutter "demanding woman" under his breath as he walked to the bathroom, but I couldn't be sure. I smirked at his retreating back. Han pulled me toward the couches.

"Happy birthday." Han said as he sat beside me. I gave him a muttered thanks and continued to sip on the champagne.

"I know you said no presents, but-"

"No, Han." I cut him off. He ignored me and pulled a box out of the inside pocket of his jacket. He dropped in my lap.

"Everyone figured just one joint present wouldn't hurt." I glanced at Han who gestured at the box. I opened it and pulled out a very expensive looking pear shaped ruby with a diamond butterfly perched at the point on a silver chain. I stared at it in awe for a minute before pulling it out of its box.

"It's beautiful. I'm not used to big presents." I said as I held the ruby in my hand. . It was perfect for the dress I had picked out with Neela for Han's party.

Han pulled it out of my hands and fastened it around my neck. I pulled my hair out of the way for him.

"Not that big. You don't smile like that often.' He teased. I just shook my head slightly. "Neela said you didn't have any jewelry." Han commented as I struggled to look at the pendant. I really needed a mirror. _I can't decide if I hate her matchmaking attempts or love them._

"I didn't. The only things I had packed were a cigar box full of pictures, a falling apart book of poetry, snacks, and a change of clothes. In hindsight, it should have just been clothes."

Han chuckled and threw his arm over the back of the couch like he did when the models were laying all over him. I wanted nothing more than to just put my head on his chest, but I forced myself to exercise some self-control and just leaned my head on the back of the couch. I yawned sleepily. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I sat down. Han dropped his arm around my shoulders when I didn't move closer. I rolled my eyes in annoyance, but didn't move.

"Sean always make you wait this long for dinner?" I felt his words rumble in his chest.

"If it wasn't Sean, it was Brent. One year on Brent's birthday, he took so long working on his car that Sean, Dad, and I ate his cake for dinner." He chuckled. "A lot of family dinners have taken place at Waffle House because it was the only thing open that late."

We sat in silence for a few minutes. I was almost asleep when I heard the music get louder. Twinkie appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Yo Han, everyone's looking for you." I moved off of him so he could get up. "Elle, have ya'll still not left yet?" He asked incredulously.

"I'm here." Sean grumbled as he walked up the stairs looking much cleaner.

"Finally." I teased. I hauled myself off the couch.

"Dang, I'm real glad we let Neela pick that out." Twinkie pointed at the necklace. I walked over and pulled him into a hug.

"Thanks, Twinkie." Our wonderful, little happy moment was ruined by Sean's obnoxiousness.

"Hurry, I'm hungry." Sean called as he walked towards his Evo. He flicked my ear as he walked by. I glared at him around Twinkie before rushing to join him. I called out my goodbyes and thank yous over my shoulder as I took the steps two at a time.

Z

"I love that on you." Neela said when I tried on my dress for Han's party with the necklace the next day. "Were you excited when Twinkie gave it to you?"

"Han did, actually. And, yes, I was. I didn't know what to do, I'm not used to big presents." I replied with a smile.

"Han gave it to you?" She grinned mischievously. "We were going to throw you a party, but Sean told us you would hate it. We settled on one gift."

"Which you did a good job with." I told her as I looked in the mirror.

"It was a big day for you; you're finally old enough to have a driver's license." She joked. I grinned in response. I had been driving since I was twelve. "How was Han's party?" I watched her expression change to a smirk in the mirror. She'd been trying to fix us up since the day after I got my skull cracked by the guy in Osaka.

"I didn't go. I sat in the loft and tried to get Sean to hurry up. It was past midnight by the time we got to dinner."

"So Han left the party to wish you a happy birthday." She stated. I knew where she was going with this.

"So did Twinkie." I pointed out. "Han only left for a minute."

"Not what Twinkie said." She said in a sing-song voice.

"What is with you two?" I huffed. "Nothing is ever going to happen between me and Han. Ever." I added emphasis on the last word. She just shook her head. "He doesn't date younger girls. He mentions it to D all the time."

Based on her face she obviously didn't believe me. She probably knew about our make out session on his bed last week.

"He also mentions you to Twink. He doesn't do that about anyone else."

"He mentions Reiko to Twink." I reminded. She sighed in exasperation.

"I will make sure you are Han's girlfriend if it's the last think I do. Not fling, either. Girlfriend." She stood up from her spot leaning on my bed and came to stand beside me in the mirror.

"Not ever gonna happen." I replied. It was true. Han and I had a pseudo conversation about me not staying away from him, but it hadn't gone past that. He also hadn't tried to kiss me at all since last time. The only thing different was that he wasn't ignoring me anymore.

"Let's make a bet." She said cockily. "Give me six months." I turned to face her completely.

"Deal."

Z

The sheer amount of people rippling like the ocean to the loud, pounding bass made my head spin. The VIP room was filled with spindly legged models in dressed that came nowhere close to covering their behinds. There were plenty of people I'd never met before-mostly models who had gotten in from Milan, Paris, or wherever and Japanese guys in suits crammed against the walls with glasses of champagne. I started to panic a little when I couldn't find anyone I knew in the mass of people.

I clutched Han's present in a death grip with one hand and fidgeted with the cream colored fabric of my dress with the other. I scanned the swarming crowd hoping I would see at least one familiar person, but I didn't have any luck. I could tell where Han was because of the models surrounding him and blocking my view, but walking towards him would look desperate and would give the models a great excuse to tear me to shreds. I was feeling like an overdressed little kid at an adults' party.

I forced my feet to move from my spot by the door and walked unsteadily over to the gift table in my way too high new heels. I thought I caught a glimpse of the back of Earl's favorite button up shirt, but I wasn't really sure. I set Han's new watch on the table stacked with neatly wrapped presents. I hadn't had any gift ideas for Han until three days ago when his favorite watch slid off and shattered on the concrete floor. I found him a replacement fairly easily.

I started nervously messing with my necklace. I gave the crowd a second look for anyone familiar, but quickly gave up. I really hated parties. I hated being alone in crowds. This was like the ninth level of hell for me.

"Damn girl, if you weren't almost a midget I wouldn't have recognized you." I breathed a sigh of relief when Twinkie wrapped his arm around my shoulder. We pushed through a couple of dancing models towards and empty round chair. There wasn't room for both of us to sit side by side, so I wound up perched on his knee.

"Is it always like this?" I asked Twink. He cupped his hand around his ear and pointed towards the speakers. The music was almost unbearably loud as close to the speakers as we were.

"You've seen the girls at the races. You've seen the girls at the parties. This is all the girls together. Models flew in from everywhere to be here." He gestured towards the crowd. "Han is the most eligible bachelor in Tokyo. You got a lot of competition."

I started laughing when he gave me his most serious look. I laughed even harder when he tilted his head to the side even more and tweaked his eyebrows. I lightly punched him in the arm and shook my head.

"I'm not competing." I answered, trying to stop laughing.

"So far you haven't had to." Twinkie answered. I rolled my eyes and started scanning the crowd again.

People watching was a great hobby to have in Tokyo. You never knew what you were going to see. So far, not much was going on, but when the champagne was almost gone, drunk watching would get entertaining. I started looking for familiar people in the crowd, but I still didn't see anyone. I couldn't even see the birthday boy from behind the ever growing swarm of skankily dressed models. I started scanning the crowd for my Sean.

"Looking for Han?" A grinning Twinkie yelled in my ear. I rolled my eyes.

"Sean. Usually if there's cake, he's somewhere close."

"You missed the cake." I gave him a horrified look. He laughed unsympathetically. "You're late."

"You saved me some right?"

"Eliana? Eliana Gonzalez?" A man's shocked voice stopped Twinkie from answering. I twitched at familiar voice and glanced over to see the surprised face of Shi, my dad's former crew member. He was a tall, clean cut Chinese man in an expensive suit

"Shi?" I whispered. Something in the back of my brain screamed that this was wrong. I wasn't supposed to talk to my family members according to Kamata. Shi was also best friends with my uncle, so I wasn't sure I wanted to talk to him anyway.

"You don't look like the little girl I left in Arizona." He commented.

"It's been a while." I answered.

He was right; I really didn't look like myself. I was a jeans and t-shirt kinda girl, with the exception of my few girly moments. Tonight I had on a cream, strapless ruched mini dress that actually fit my skinny frame. It showed off my tiny hips gracefully and ended just above mid thigh. Its light color made my tan skin stand out. The ruby hung around my neck and added a splash of color.

Neela twisted my hair into a low, wavy pony tail. I had cut my bangs that morning to hide the obvious white scar above my temple. Neela had also lined my eyes in more eye liner than I had ever worn in my entire life. The end result was gorgeous, but it really didn't feel like me.

After several minutes of catching up with Davis, I finally remembered Twinkie. I felt my face blaze red hot as I attempted to stammer out introductions. They shook hands and Twinkie left to go somewhere else. As Davis and I took the chair Twinkie and had vacated, I saw him walk past Sean and Neela who had just walked through the door to the garage. I made a mental note to bug her about it later.

Z

"But that was before I spent the summer in the Virgin Islands. You remember my beach house there?" I smiled and nodded when he looked at me for an answer. I rolled my eyes the second he went back to his favorite topic: himself.

He had yet to ask why I was here. I had a sneaking suspicion he knew and didn't care. I had tried to get away many times, but I was crammed in back part of the chair with him perched at the very edge. There was no way for me to gracefully get around him in this stupid short dress.

His flirty, arrogant personality usually drove me insane, but I was so glad I was talking to someone from home I didn't even care at first. He filled me in on all the things I missed in the last couple months. I started to feel homesick all over again hearing all of the things I missed out on.

That excitement quickly wore off. His arrogant, slimy personality started to grate on my nerves. His stories started to shift from family members to what he'd been doing since I'd last seen him. They also started to get outrageously exaggerated.

I thought I heard my name mentioned between Twinkie and another guy, but Shi obnoxiously chose this moment to creepily put his hand on my thigh. His obnoxiously flirting and complete disregard for personal space were pissing me off. I opened my mouth to threaten him when someone cut me off.

"Eliana. There you are." Han said a little too loudly. He gave Shi a quick nod and pulled me out of the chair. Shi was forced to move to let me out. "You weren't going to talk to the birthday boy?"

Han didn't wait for my reply before leaning down and kissing me. I tried to pulled back almost immediately expecting only a peck on the lips, but Han wouldn't let me. I blushed bright pink and tried to shove him off. Han never did anything like this in public and I was freaking out knowing everyone was watching.

"Down boy. He got the point." I hissed in his ear when he finally let me go. I felt him smirk against my cheek as he pulled me toward a grinning Twink.

"How do you know him?" He asked quietly.

"My dad's team member and my uncle's best friend. He was a used car salesman from Hong Kong that sold the cars he boosted. He's a pretty good driver and he was good when the team got in a rough spot, but he's just-" I gave a disgusted shudder and trailed off looking for a word to describe him. Han let me trail off without finishing the thought.

He put his hand in the small of my back and pushed me towards Twinkie. I glanced around the room to see most of the models around the fringes of the dance floor now had a deadlock stare on me as the slowed to swayed instead of dancing like they were before. I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand on end slightly as I got a little uncomfortable.

"There he is." Twinkie pointed to an oil stained Sean who was dancing with Neela. She had pulled him back to dancing with her instead of confronting me for my show of PDA.

"Glad you finally answered my question." I flicked him on the bicep. He jerked away from me. Han shook his head and poured me a glass of champagne.

"Behave and enjoy the party." He pecked me on the cheek before ducking into the crowd again.

Z

I tottered unsteadily on my death trap shoes as I swayed with the music beside Alden. I could feel the red flush from laughter on my face. I had a little too much champagne and wound up on getting dragged on the dance floor by Twinkie. I was completely shocked that for the first time ever at a party like this I was actually having _fun_.

Sean had talked to me for a second about staying away from Davis and then disappeared off with Neela. I had actually made friends with a few of the less jealous models. I caught a glimpse of Nozomi, Han's fling that I ran off, clinging to the lapels of his tan blazer trying to talk to him. I looked back ten minutes later to see her red with fury and glaring at me.

I was purposely ignoring that corner of the room and putting all my focus on standing up in those shoes. I felt someone touch my back and almost slipped. Someone put their hands on my hips to steady me. I turned my head around to see Han.

"Thought you didn't dance." He teased.

"Twinkie talked me into it." I tried to step away but he tightened his grip on my hips. I pulled his hands off and moved away. People knew we had something going on, but I didn't want them to know too much about it.

I was having an awesome time when my phone rang. I cursed my bad luck and slipped out the garage door to answer it. I was praying that it wasn't Kamata. I dug it out of my dress pocket to see D's number. I groaned at flipped it open.

"Hello."

"You're at Han's party with Neela, right?" His accent filtered through the earpiece. His voice lost the usually arrogant edge, which gave away his concern. For once the wanna be bad boy sounded desperate.

"Yeah." I answered flatly. _Oh, please don't do what I think you're gonna._

"Watch Neela. Keep her and that gaijin away from each other." He ordered. _Oh, someone's feeling threatened._

"Look, I don't work for you. Even if I did, that is just wrong. She's not cheating on you. You're freaking out over nothing." I wandered over to Sean's hoodless Evo and ran my hand over the exposed engine. He'd really redone a lot.

I could almost see D run his hands through his short hair and sigh from his place behind his desk. His hesitation told me he was irritated and about to come down here himself. D was really predictable; especially when it came to stalking his girlfriend.

"Look, you haven't asked for my advice but you're going to get it." I moved away from Sean's car as I talked. I didn't want engine grease on me and I knew he didn't want me adjusting anything. "This was supposed to be a fun girls' night where she helped me look like a girly girl and we came here and had fun. If you get possessive and try to break that up, it doesn't make you look good. You will look desperate and girls don't like desperate."

"Which is why I told _you_ to keep him away from her." He said stubbornly through clenched teeth. I rolled my eyes and completely tripped, smacking hard into the floor. I pulled myself up gracelessly and pulled at my hair. _I'm really glad no one saw that._

I pulled myself up on Han's perfectly organized desk and rubbed my aching ankles. I took my time looking at my now bruised knees to make D sweat a little.

"I don't like it." I finally told him. "But just for tonight, since I'm here with Neela, I'll save you the trip."

"You'd better make sure nothing happens." He snapped and hung up.

"Humh, rude bastard. Didn't your mama tell you not to be an ass then hang up on people?" I asked my phone as I closed it.

"Did you just agree to spy on Sean and Neela?" I jumped from shock and almost sent my phone crashing towards the concrete. After some fumbling I finally caught it. I looked up to see Han looking at me with an unreadable expression.

"I decided I'd save D and Jackass the trip. But I might have a little problem with keeping my promise." I stated innocently. "I can't seem to find them right now and my feet are hurting, so I'm not going to go look. Guess they'll have to handle themselves." I shrugged. Han started chuckling.

He walked over until he was right in front of me. He ran his thumb over my soon-to-be-bruised knee.

"Guess you saw that, huh?" I felt my face flush.

"I've seen worse." His hand moved up to my lower thigh. I squirmed a little. "Why'd you call him D? I'm usually the only one who does that."

"I don't think 'king' is going to be in his title much longer, do you?" I smirked and nodded my head at Sean's Evo. Han laughed.

"Shouldn't you be back at your party?" I asked when he didn't move to leave.

"Shouldn't you be keeping tabs on the kids?" He shot back.

"I drive fast cars with illegal crap in the trunk for the _real_ Yakuza. Stalking people is the wangster's grunts' job." I answered.

"Yeah, you're not exactly stealthy enough to stalk people." He joked and pushed his thumb against my wounded knee.

"Oh, go back to your hoes." I answered when I couldn't think of a comeback. He chuckled.

"I think I'm good here." He leaned forward and pressed his lips against mine.


	13. Rumors

**12**

**You think that I'm a lady? You think that I won't fight? I'm the baddest bitch that ever hit this town.**

**Esthero**

**Z**

_I'm going to kill Neela. _

The usual crowd of the Tokyo Underground swarmed like a loud, neon-colored kicked ant hill in the tight space of the parking garage. The loud music and cigarette smoke was assaulting my aching head. I was leaning on my car watching all of the different people pass by.

I made the mistake of borrowing something from Neela to wear tonight. She practically forced me into a skin tight gray sweater dress that was entirely too short and low cut. It was freezing cold and almost completely unbearable. Neela had borrowed high heeled over-the-knee-boots from one of my new model friends to keep some of the chill off my legs, but the dress still showed an uncomfortable amount of thigh and boobs.

Unfortunately some of the race rats had noticed. I was really glad I couldn't understand some of the Japanese. Usually they yelled their cat calls and left, but I had to go Bon Qui Qui/ Madea on one guy before he went away. I really need to do some work under the hood before my race, but with the guys surrounding me I didn't dare.

When the sound of screeching tires could be heard over the music from the floor above the crowd thinned out a little. I slid off the hood and got to work. I needed a new car tonight because of the damage that was getting inflicted on my other ones. Something in the engine of the Skyline had been knocked loose. I was deep in thought as I ran my hand over the engine when I felt a stinging pain on my ass.

I stiffened and felt my jaw drop open. Fury spread through my veins and I whirled around to punch the face of whoever just smacked me until it dented inward. My face burned red with rage as I took in the smirking face of Morimoto. I found myself wishing his orange bleached hair was a little longer so I could yank it out by the roots.

He made some really lewd comments on in Japanese and lecherously stepped forward towards me with his annoying smirk until I was stuck between him and the car. I had to fight to keep my lip from curling into an unlady like snarl.

"I think you need to keep walking." I said sassily and firmly.

"Come on, mami. Don't put it out there if you don't want it appreciated." He made a grab at my waist. I snorted and pushed him off.

"I don't hook up with boys I can beat, so why don't you scuttle back upstairs and go play with your whores, huh?" I flicked my head in the direction of the elevators and turned my head back towards my Skyline.

He grabbed my upper arm and jerked me to face him. He was obviously just as angry as I was. I glanced around to see my little corner of the garage was almost empty except for a few guys that would never help me. Out of options, I drew my left arm back and popped him straight in the jaw. The hit sent him reeling.

"I think you got your answer." Han's voice sounded from beside me. I watched Morimoto pick himself up, adjust his leather jacket and leave. Spanish curse words swirled in my brain as I glared at his retreating back while he stalked off in the other direction. Han wrapped his arm around my waist. I tensed when he touched me, still glaring at Jackass's back.

"Told ya you were a fireball." I looked at him and we both chuckled. My anger dissipated as soon as it came with Morimoto gone. He pulled me away from my car and back into the more crowed section of the garage.

"He deserved it." I mumbled. I ran my fingers over my newly bruised knuckles.

"Can't argue there." Han replied amiably.

"Aren't you so glad Sean and I just yell at each other?" I asked perkily. Han grinned and tilted his head so he could see my evil smirk.

"Something tells me that doesn't work on Sean."

"You got that right."

As Han pulled me towards the elevators I noticed a large amount of people were staring at us. I knew none of them saw me punch Jackass. I glanced at Han to see if he noticed, but he was too busy eating a bag of chips. He felt my stare and offered me the bag. I shook my head.

He ignored the few models that called out greetings and pushed me into the elevator. I shifted my weight nervously as the elevator pulled us upward. I always hated the elevators at the parking garage. They swayed and creaked all the way up and were usually way past their weight limit. Han still had his arm around me and noticed me tense.

"There are a lot of rumors flying around about you." He commented as he rubbed my back slightly to make me relax.

"Do I want to know what they are?" I asked hesitantly. He glanced at me for a second before his lips spread into a grin.

"You're DK's other woman. You're one of Kamata's top people's mistress, but you're having a fling with me." The huff I held in on the first one slipped one the second. Han chuckled. "You came to Tokyo to take DK's title. You're a bad ass mafia hit woman whose been spending the last couple of months trying to seduce me." I rolled my eyes.

'These people need a life- or a hobby or-something. They have entirely too much time on their hands if they're starting these rumors." Han and I started laughing.

"Want to start a few more?" He looked at me with a sly grin. I smirked and put my hands on his chest. He leaned down to kiss me. Right before the elevator opened, he decided it would be a great idea to grab my ass.

The elevator had been open for a good ten seconds before I pulled away. I gave him a smirk and slipped past him into the crowd near the starting line. I could feel the crowd start to buzz as I made my way past. I ignored the whispers and stares as I started to scan the rows of cars near the starting line. I found a red Toyota Chaser that had a lot of potential.

I forced myself not to look back towards Han. I knew after our little display he would have no less than four women hanging off his arms. They seemed to be drawn to him even more since the rumors got started about us after his birthday. After watching Neela and DK for a while I decided my best chance of being with Han would be disinterest. It was actually working.

To be such a stoic, loner type that gave up the spotlight to be on the fringe of things, he hated to be ignored.

"Like what you see? I know I do." A deep, amused voice sounded from left. A Japanese guy in sagging jeans and a wife beater smirked at me from his spot leaning on the trunk of the car.

"Your Chaser?" He nodded. "I'm running an '89 Skyline. Race me."

"Can I at least get your name beautiful?" He ran his hands through his spiked hair and smirked at me.

"If you beat me." I replied smoothly. I was getting extremely annoyed with guys his type.

"Is that really a possibility, sweetheart?" He started laughing. I had to fight to keep the smug look off of my face. I loved beating cocky guys; they were always funny to watch at the finish line.

"Why don't you find out?" I retorted.

"Look honey, I ain't seen you around here, so you must be new. The girls around here don't race. They just look nice for the boys." His smooth, accented voice was slimy with condescension. I held my ground in front of him.

At that point, it wasn't about needing a new car anymore. I was planning on winning by such a length he'd never be able to show his face in this scene again.

"You are obviously one of the wannabes that stand beside their car instead of driving them if you don't know who I am." I shot back. I was simmering with anger. I fought to hold it all in to use during the race instead of starting a fight.

"Why don't you go find a guy to screw and leave racing to the big boys." He suggested through clenched teeth and gestured to himself.

"Like yourself? Boy, I don't think you can handle me." I answered. His eyes practically bugged out of his head. _Ha, two points for me._

"Just put your money where your mouth is and race her." DK drawled from the side. He had apparently been standing there a while. The guy muttered an answer and stalked over to check his engine over.

"I totally had that." I hissed at him as I walked back toward the elevators. Han and I made eye contact briefly. He shook his head at me with a grin. Apparently he heard that too.

"I noticed. You have caused a lot of trouble tonight." He commented. I rolled my eyes at him.

"Blame your girlfriend. She dressed me." I responded as I jabbed the elevator button multiple times hoping it would get there faster. It finally did and I stepped in. DK made sure he got the last word in before the door closed.

"You'd better beat him. You represent me after all."

Z

The crowd exploded into cheering as I slid to a stop after a 90 degree spin. The Skyline was barely hanging on, but I had been so far ahead from the starting line it didn't matter. I was out of my car and accepting congratulations before he even appeared at the top of the ramp.

Morimoto was glaring at me from the sidelines with an obviously purple jaw. His usual entourage of weirdly dressed skanks were clinging to his sides and obviously babying his new injury. Neela cut her eyes at Morimoto, then Han, then back to me with a spreading smirk that said she was going to get every detail out of me tomorrow.

"Reiko. Reiko-chan." I called. She pushed through the people when she noticed I was trying to get her attention. Being short in crowds really wasn't fun.

"Need me to take the Skyline?" she asked in accented English.

"Do you mind?" I had mentioned her taking home for me earlier, but I wanted to make sure she still could.

"No. I got it. Good job." She smiled and stepped off so the loser could hand me his keys. He forcefully pushed them into my hand.

"Pleasure doing business." I said flatly. He shot me one last glare before he headed towards the elevators. I heard one of his friends yell, "Dude, she's Yakuza." at him.

"You are all kinds of trouble tonight." Han teased and came to stand beside me.

"Yeah, well." I responded. "Whose idea was it to spark some rumors." I played with the keys in my hand.

"We have time to start a few more." He responded.

"I think that's enough for one night." Reiko reappeared off to the side. I slid into the driver's seat and grabbed my phone from the cup holder and also the gun I kept in the glove box. I shoved it in the top of my boot so it wasn't noticeable.

I let Han give me a peck on the lips before I got into my new Chaser. I felt his eyes on me as I adjusted the seat and the mirrors. I shot him one last smirk before starting the car and shooting back down the ramp with Reiko right behind me.

My phone buzzed beside me in the cup holder. I sighed and grabbed it before it went to voicemail.

"What, ho?" I asked jokingly. I thought about it for a second and really hoped it was Neela on the other end and Kamata about to bitch me out for my obvious closeness with Han. I heard her giggle and let out a sigh of relief.

"Who you calling ho? You have a lot of explaining to do."


	14. Club Can't Handle Me

**14**

**You know I know how**

**To make em stop and stare as I zone out**

**The club can't even handle me right now.**

**_Club Can't Handle Me_**

**Flo Rida**

**Z**

The breeze curled around me as I sat peacefully in the sand with the water washing over my outstretched legs. I was warm, and pleasantly comfortable in the hot, bright sunshine.

A loud bang interrupted my sunbathing and I blinked in confusion, only to find myself face first in my pillow and wrapped in a comforter. I groaned as I sat up. I shivered as the cold air of my apartment made contact with my bare arms as I rubbed my eyes. Another loud bang came from outside my bedroom followed by the clank of my lock sliding into place.

_Please be Neela. _I grumbled in my head as I threw the blanket off my legs, letting in the cold air. I briefly thought I should be more concerned about who was barging into my apartment, but I quickly decided they couldn't be that bad since they bothered to lock the door back.

Unwilling to let my feet touch the cold floor, I jumped out of bed and tried to land on the shirt I had tossed off before falling face first on my bed. I lost my balance a little, but I managed to get it back. I drug my feet to get myself closer to the door, only to have it snap open and almost collide with me.

I gave a disgruntled grunt as Neela stepped through the door with a pout and slammed it behind her. Her pout deepened to a full on frown when she was me sleepily glaring at her in my underwear and undershirt. I raised my eyebrows to dare her to comment on my current state and she started to giggle.

"I take it you had a rough night, Ellie?" She asked as she nudged the jeans I threw off the night before with her toe.

"I got back at ten thirty this morning. I just crawled into bed as-is and haven't moved since." I answered with my voice deep with sleep. At least I was enjoying my first nightmare free sleep in a long time. I couldn't complain about that.

"Yeah, being out all night like that has got to be tough." She said pensively.

"Yeah, it's a pain in the ass." I answered bluntly as she took a seat on my bed. "Why are you here?" She looked down guiltily. "That came out a lot more bluntly than I meant for it to." I amended. "I'm happy to see you, but you usually don't come by without a reason."

"It's Takashi." She sighed. I nodded. I really hated him. "He's just not the man he used to be."

"He's the boss's nephew; he's expected to be womanizing asshole just like the rest of them. Although, his temper is a lot worse than some of those boys." I added as an afterthought.

"It's not getting any better." She admitted. "How are things with you?" She asked to change the subject.

"Well, I'm thousands of miles from home, alone, with a grand total of four friends, running drugs for the Yakuza." I deadpanned sardonically.

"Guess neither of us is very well off." She commented dryly. I hummed in agreement as I picked up my jeans and pulled them on. "Though you seem to be a lot happier lately." She slid the comment in with an attempt at a smile.

"If you came here, you're obviously upset." I told her quietly as I leaned on my door frame. I completely ignored her attempt at changing the subject. Neela would twist everything back on me so she could avoid talking about Takashi, and I wasn't going to let her tonight.

"I don't want to talk about it." She answered quickly. "I just want to forget about Takashi: I don't want to see his friends, I don't want to get asked a million questions about our relationship, and I definitely don't want to see hear about how perfect we are for each other and how we're going to get married one day." She said in frustration.

"Let's go out." I answered automatically. Neela stared at me like I needed to be committed.

I really sucked at comforting people like this. Obviously, Neela really needed someone besides her school friends at the moment; they could never understand the people she was involved with. Unfortunately I knew too much about the lifestyle Takashi would one day be living if his uncle ever let him graduate from collecting money in his store room. I couldn't make myself lie and say that one day it was all going to get better.

"It'd be a good distraction." I added when she didn't respond.

"You hate going clubbing." She reminded with a sigh.

"Neela, after that last run, I'm going to have a few days off. Without someone to hang out with, I'm just going to spend them passed out asleep." I answered as I gestured to the messed up bed she was currently sitting on.

"I just kind of assumed you'd be spending it in bed with someone else." She tried another attempt at humor.

"You don't know that I've ever been in bed with someone else." She gave me a pointed knowing look. "You don't."

"Oh please, that watch wasn't the only thing he unwrapped." She replied saucily.

Without waiting for me to answer, she stood up and crossed the room to my closet. She pushed my clothes to the side and started looking through her section of race clothes she kept for when she got ready at my place. She flipped through her clothes before she pulled out a pale green dress. She held it up for my approval, but I was too busy struggling to keep the blush out of my face to reply.

"I like it." I answered honestly after I managed to slightly control my embarrassment.

"I've got a blue one that would look good on you." She replied as she tossed the one in her hand on the bed and started looking again.

"No need." I replied with a grin. Her eyebrow raised; I usually didn't buy any dresses unless I had to.

I walked over to my closet and pulled out an extremely low cut dark purple halter dress. I held it up with a grin as I watched the shock spread across her face.

"Wow, I wasn't expecting that; I thought I was going to have to drag the too big, grease stained jeans off of you." She replied as she reached out to touch the fabric.

"Nope. I had to go shopping the other day because all my shirts were ripped or covered in oil and I made myself buy some race outfits and a few other dresses." I replied proudly. She smiled and shook her head.

"I'll do your make up and hair if you want." She offered.

"I thought you'd never ask. I don't want to close my ear in the curling iron like last time." I replied jokingly.

"I'll try to avoid that, then." She joked as walked away to find my curling iron.

Z

The music was pounding so loud I couldn't hear myself think, but that was kind of the point of the place. The techno wasn't what I was used to, but I danced to it all the same.

I had lost Neela somewhere on the dance floor after we had a few drinks at the bar. I was pretty sure she went to get us another one. She was giggling a hell of a lot more than she usually was when she left me, so I was guessing she was drunk at that point. I had just as much to drink as she did, but I didn't feel like I was as far gone as she was.

I was having fun; the only things that matter were the beat of the music and keeping the sleazy guy in the black shirt from dancing on me. I didn't have a job or a boss that rivaled Meryl Streep's character in _The Devil Wear's Prada _on harassing employees with phone calls to come to work. Neela's asshole boyfriend might as well have fallen off the face of the earth as far as I was concerned.

I was completely absorbed with moving my hips to music, when someone put their hands on my waist. I turned to slap them away before I realized I recognized the guy that had me.

"Hey, Han." Without thinking, I rocked up on my toes to give him a hello kiss. He leaned down to meet me half way, and almost the second his lips touched mine, I tried to deepen the kiss. He let me kiss him for a minute before he pulled back with a smirk.

"Wasn't expecting to see you here." He yelled in my ear so I could hear him over the music.

"Neela needed to get out, so I agreed to go here." I yelled back loudly as I started to sway to the music again. "I thought you'd be partying at home."

"It gets old." He replied. I nodded and tried to get back to dancing, but he kept his hands on my hips, tugging them too close for me to be able to move the way I wanted.

"Han, let me dance." I whined. His smirk grew even wider.

"Thought you didn't dance." He answered in amusement.

"I would if you'd freaking let go off me!" I snapped as I pushed at his wrists. He held firm to my waist. I sighed as I gave up. "Fine, if you won't let go, at least dance with me." I huffed.

As we danced, I started to notice we were drawing a few stares from the girls around us. I wasn't dancing any worse than the drunk girls around me, so I didn't think that was it. I noticed a few trying to whisper to each other. I glanced back up to Han to see him staring at me.

"What are they looking at?" I whispered hoping he could read lips.

"Your dress is almost cut to your belly button." He responded in my ear.

"Yeah, but their's are lower." I said back. He turned my head so I could see the guy in the black shirt and one of his friends glancing our way. I gestured with my head towards the girls.

He just smirked and pulled me closer. The girls quickly forgotten, I rocked up on my toes to reach his lips and he met me halfway again. We stayed like that until we had to break apart for air. I lost my balance and stumbled forward into his chest.

"Are you drunk?" He asked in amusement.

"No, Neela is." I responded a little more whiny than I meant to.

"Come on." He said as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders and tried to pull me off the dance floor. "Let's go find her."

"No." I pulled his arm over my head. "We both came here to dance and be distracted from some stuff. She's getting a drink and she will be right back."

I left him standing there as I walked back to where I was before.

I knew I lost my chance of going back to making out with him as we danced; he'd go find a drunk model. Han wasn't really the type to look after drunk high school age girls. Well, semi drunk.

I moved wrong and almost fell off my heels.

_Okay, I'm drunk, damn it._

A pair of masculine arms wrapped around my waist from behind to steady me as I moved. I leaned my head back against their owner's strong chest to see who it was. Han was smirking down at me. I twisted in his arms and wrapped my arms around him.

"You came back." I sad much too happily.

"I couldn't leave you out here in that dress, now could I?" He asked as his eyes flicked down to my exposed cleavage.

"No, creepy Japanese businessmen keep trying to buy me drinks." I said before I could stop myself.

"I'll just have to keep them off." He replied flirtily before leaned back down to capture my lips in kiss again.

It was perfect. Until a drunk Neela stumbled back with two drinks and a whole lot of questions about our sex life.


	15. Nightmares

**15**

**"Only do not forget, if I wake up crying**

**It's only because I'm a lost child**

**Hunting through the leaves of the night for your hands"**

**Pablo Neruda- Cien sonetos de amor ( 100 Love Sonnets)**

**Z**

"So if I'm standing across the street from a very crazily elaborate art building and in front of a busy ramen shop, where I am?"

"Lost." Han's amused voice came through the ear piece of my phone. I groaned in annoyance.

I had a _very _rough night. After the race, I had gone on a run to far North Japan. I had gotten back at two in the morning and then tossed and turned with nightmares all night. They had slacked off for a while when Sean came to Japan, but now they were coming back worse than ever. I had thrown a thin sweatshirt over my sweatpants and tank top I slept in and went for a walk. It was an unusually warm day and the people swarming on the sidewalks seemed to be walking slower to enjoy the sunshine.

"Very funny." I griped sarcastically. "I know you know this part of town."

"You're also stuck there considering the guy you usually call for directions has his phone off and is in the middle of a huge calculus test." He drawled with smooth amusement. I sighed tiredly. The one day I needed help Twinkie decided to care about graduating. "Don't you have a GPS in your car?"

"I couldn't sleep so I went for a walk."

"It's almost lunch time. How long have you been wandering around Tokyo?" He asked. I rolled my eyes. He made it sound like I had been wandering around since 4 in the morning instead of 10. Why was the fact that I was almost nocturnal hard for people to grasp? It shouldn't be in this city.

"Are you going to help me or not?" I said grumpily.

"Alright. Stay there." The line clicked.

I sighed and stared at my phone for a second. I was really too tired to care if he called back to help or not. I took a seat on a bench outside of the ramen shop and ran my hands through my messy bangs before propping my elbows on my knees. I wanted to just lean my head back and go to sleep, but that would just bring more nightmares.

I was waiting for my phone to ring for almost five minutes when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped from the sudden contact and jerked my head up to see Han's smiling face. He had a grocery bag in one hand and a case of beer in the other. His smile slipped a little when he noticed how tired I looked.

"Told you I couldn't sleep." I stated.

"Come on." He jerked his head to the right in a follow me motion and walked away without looking back. I scrambled up to follow him. It was pretty easy considering he was taller and build a lot broader than the usual Japanese citizen. He glanced back to make sure I was behind him every once and a while.

Before long we were at the toxic blue Supra I hated so much. I quirked an eyebrow at his choice but slid into the passenger seat without commenting. He took us off some random roads until the buildings started to look familiar. He pulled off at corner restaurant that I had never noticed.

"Where are we?" I asked sleepily.

"We're getting lunch. It'll make you feel better." He reached to open his door and I followed suit.

"I'm not sick; I'm just exhausted." I told him.

He held the door for me and I was assaulted by the smells of Japanese cooking. I breathed it in deep and my mouth started to water. I hadn't realized how hungry I was.

"I'll order for us." Han said as he slipped in behind me.

It briefly crossed my mind that that might be a bad idea, but I ignored the thought and grabbed us a table. I rested my head on my hand was almost asleep by the time Han came back with two cartons of food. He pushed it towards me with a smile.

"Thanks." I said quietly as I picked up my chopsticks. I glanced at the food and breathed a sigh of relief when it was just chicken. I was used to Twinkie trying to force feed me nasty things.

"You know people have been bugging Twink trying to figure us out." Han said before he got a mouthful of noodles. I felt a smirk spread across my face.

"Neela pretty much guessed everything. Was he mad that he wasn't at the race?" I asked as I attempted to grab a piece of chicken.

"Just a bit." He smirked. " He's trying not to ask, but with people talking it's driving him crazy." I started laughing.

"I can't believe he hasn't called me."

"He knows you won't say anything." He answered. He had a mischievous smirk stuck on his face. "And Neela thinks it is hilarious that he is dying to know and won't tell him either."

"I love that girl. I just wish she'd find me longer skirts for the races." I poked at a shrimp with my chopsticks before deciding it was safe and eating it.

"There was nothing wrong with the last one." I glanced up to see him grinning in amusement.

"You, Jackass, and several other guys were all in agreement on that one." I pointed out. His grin faded a little.

"Sean wasn't happy about that." He stated. He pulled out what looked like greasy tentacles out of his food carton. My jaw dropped in horror. Han noticed and started smirking.

"Is that squid?" I shuddered.

"Try a bite." He extended his chopsticks across the table with a slimy tentacle hanging off it.

"No thanks." I leaned back to keep it from touching my nose.

"Come on. It's not that bad." He wiggled the chopsticks so close to me I got cross eyed. After ten seconds of that I got annoyed.

"Okay." I reached for the chopsticks.

He pulled them back out of my reach and smirked even wider. I rolled my eyes and let him feed me off his chopsticks. The squid wound up not being that bad. A quick glance around the small restaurant showed all of the older couples looking scandalized at him feeding me off his chopsticks. I felt my face turn bright red.

"Good, wasn't it?" He asked between enormous bites.

"Yeah, I guess." I answered as I picked at the rice on the bottom of the carton. I was hungrier than I realized and still embarrassed that everyone was staring.

"They aren't staring half as bad as the race rats were when they thought I punched Morimoto."

"What?" I asked.

"You're as big around as my pinky. Most people don't think you could take him. Plus no one is going to admit what happened."

"I had Brent and Sean and was surrounded by convicts. If pushed, I can throw down." Han snorted and started to chuckle through a bite of squid. "Careful, you don't want to snort a tentacle." he grabbed for a napkin and his shoulders started to shake with laughter. I couldn't help but join him.

"I can't really see you fighting anyone unless it was completely, life-or-death necessary." I stated after our laughter died down a little. He chewed thoughtfully for a second before answering.

" I used to in high school, but you're right; though I have no problem decking Morimoto." I felt a blush cross my face as I caught his real meaning: if hadn't done it, he would've.

Before long we were finished eating and heading out side the restaurant. It was still very early afternoon so I had time to get a nap before Sean's drifting practice started.

"Thanks for lunch, Han" I gave him a quick hug and tried to step away.

"Where are you going?" He asked after he stopped me from leaving.

"Home. I know the way from here." He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the passenger side of the Supra.

"Come back and hang out at the garage. It'll save you the trip in a few hours." He opened the door for me, but I hesitated getting in.

"I need to change out of my pajamas." I told him.

"You keep clothes in the garage." He reminded me. "You think being alone's going to make them stop?" He added. _How'd he know the nightmares came back?_

"Fine." I caved and slid in the passenger seat.

Z

The road snaked in hairpin turns and winded downward front of me. The rain smashed against the windshield with a vicious ferocity. I yanked the wheel roughly and downshifted into a drift. Every once in a while the headlights of the car following me would hit my rearview mirror and blind me..

The headlights weren't half bad as the lightning. A bolt turned the air an electric blue as it forked over head and crashed somewhere to the ground in the valley. I got a good look at my white knuckles that were overlaid in marbled bruises. They were still bleeding.

I was terrified. I had no idea what was behind me, but I had an overwhelming sense of urgency to run away. I could feel the ragged breathing in my throat as I tried to get air into my lungs. Everything felt paralyzed like the fear was weighing me down completely.

I hit a slick spot on the road and overshot the right angle to take the turn. Ice cold terror surged through my veins as I yanked the wheel to try to correct myself. The person following me used my mistake against me. They gave me a tap that sent me reeling towards an embankment. The car shuddered as it slipped to the ground below. For a brief moment, all I saw was light.

Z

I shot up in cold sweat. I jerkily looked around to see where I was. The familiar sight of Han's loft came into view. The movie still played in the back ground. Alden was talking to me, but I was too freaked out to listen. I saw two beer bottles on the coffee table, one on my side, and started trying to remember if I was drinking.

It took what I thought was one of the overstuffed pillows that were scattered across the couches moving under my face for me to realize I was half on top of Han. I had a death grip on his sweat shirt. I pried my hands away and moved so I was beside him.

"You know you drive in your sleep? You twitched your foot like you were hitting the clutch before you moved your left hand like you were shifting." Alden informed me. I shook my head slowly. He slipped off the couch across from mine and walked down towards the garage floor. He tossed a concerned look over his shoulder, but didn't ask.

"How bad is it?" Han murmured quietly. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me like I was laying before.

"The nightmares aren't bad. I'm just driving, but- I'm always afraid." I mumbled into his rib cage. I felt like a little kid running to her dad for help. At least Alden stepped out so no one else saw this side of me.

"You think you're running from Kamata?" His voice rumbled deep in chest.

"Yes." I finally cracked and nuzzled against his chest. I took a deep breath and inhaled his cologne "He loosened up on me a lot when I wasn't the troublemaker he expected. Just a little bit more and I can go without getting caught."

We slipped into a comfortable silence. I almost dozed off against him again while he watched the movie. I could vaguely hear Twinkie and Sean laughing on the floor below with Earl and Reiko bickering over the repairs to be made on Sean's car from practice today beside them. I briefly wondered when Han had joined me on the couch, but I decided just this once I'd let it slide.


	16. Time to Go

16

The cigar smoke curled languidly near the ceiling the crowded restaurant. Random, well-dressed people were sitting in booths, by the bar, or just standing off to the side in clumps. I was in the furthest booth from the door with my back towards the entrance. To make my situation even more uncomfortable, I was crammed between Kamata and his advisor.

I had been sitting there listening to them ramble in Japanese over the best route to get everything from point A to point B through the crowded city streets. I had been fighting to keep the sighs of frustration. There was no point in me being there; Kamata was just trying to keep me away from the races tonight.

"Do you agree, Ms. Gonzalez?" Kamata's gravelly voice switched to English. It had an edge that made my stomach drop a little. He still set me on edge and had an intimidating persona, but I had gotten over my outright fear of him.

"Yes." I said quickly. I glanced at the map to see what we were actually talking about. The tiny Japanese scribble on the maze of streets wasn't exactly enlightening.

There was a long pause before he decided that was a satisfactory answer and continued in Japanese. I _really _didn't want to be there. I wanted to be at the races watching Sean. It was his first race and it was against Morimoto. After the work he had put into learning how to drift, I knew he would win, but Morimoto wasn't exactly trustworthy. I was afraid of him wrecking Sean or something.

"Are you listening at all?" Kamata finally snapped. _Of, course not._

"I'm trying to keep up with the Japanese. I'm still not perfectly fluent." I said flatly in an attempt to be polite. I had a nasty habit of sounding sarcastic when I was being serious. That wouldn't go over well right about now.

"Perhaps you should stay with Takashi. You would pick it up a lot faster than with his American partner." His tone changed. It sounded like a command and a warning rolled into one.

"Probably." I answered back. That apparently wasn't what he was looking for. "DK and I haven't been on the same schedule lately, though." I threw in a lame attempt to explain why.

He ran his fingers over the map and motioned for his second in command to continue what he was saying about the drug trade. I could feel his mind working. I had a sinking feeling that my time being free to be around Han was about to be cut short very quickly.

I was so scared I almost started shaking. I was either about to be forced back into DK's crew or he was about to turn me over to one of his sex clubs like he had been threatening for months. I wasn't any good to him as a drug mule if I was with distracted and out of his control. He wasn't going to stand for me getting too independent.

"You are familiar with working on stolen cars, correct?" He asked when the conversation hit a lull. His statement was perfectly smooth, but I spotted the undertone to it immediately. Things were going to get bad fast.

"Yes." I answered slowly.

"I asked Takeshi to make an import look official, but I think it would be easier if you took a look at it." His words were completely smooth.

"I can do that." I said falteringly.

"Good. Start this weekend." He said with finality.

Z

The tone of Kamata's words was still ringing in my head as I stepped out of my Z into the freezing cold night air outside Han's club. I wrapped my arms around myself and wished I had chosen a warmer dress. I was wearing one I borrowed from Neela, which meant it was a lot tinier than I wanted.

As I walked through the door to the overflowing VIP room I knew immediately Sean had won his race. I felt the corners of my lips tug up with pride. There were way too many people for me to see Sean, but I knew he would be in the garage anyway.

"Our boy got some skills." Twinkie said quietly. I hadn't heard him come up and almost jumped.

"Don't tell me. I want to let him do it." I said with a smile.

"He's out back." He gave me a quick hug and went back to trying to pick up drunk models.

I found Sean right where he always was: under the hood of his Evo. I felt my smile grow bigger when I saw the excitement on his face as he busily worked. I was glad he was finally happy.

"Can't take a break, can you?" I asked. His smile got even bigger when he saw me. He grabbed me by the waist and spun me around cackling like we were little.

"I won, Elle! Can you believe it?"

"Yes, I believe it; now put me down! You're not twelve, Sean." I shrieked at him. I smacked him on the head when he set me down before breaking down and giggling with him.

"I was so far ahead when I went up that ramp-" He excitedly babbled out every detail of the practice that afternoon, the changes to the car, the race. I stood and listened with a smile. When he was almost done I saw Han start to walk our way. He gave me a quick peck on the lips and listened to the rest of Sean's story. We kept sharing smirks when he'd look away at his obvious excitement; he was like a little kid at Christmas.

"Sean, sorry but I'm going to steal her for a second." Han cut in after he started to repeat himself. He deflated a little but agreed.

"Congratulations, Sean." I hugged him before walking up the stairs with Han.

"Glad to see things have changed since Mona." Han joked.

"It was his first big race." I defended. Han shook his head. "I wish I was there."

"Kyoto? Osaka?" Han asked.

"Kamata's right elbow." The worry I was trying to force down came out in my voice. Han gave me a concerned look. "He made me sit between him and his advisor all night while they argued in Japanese over a map. And I think he's about to get rid of me."

Han shooed a few people off the couch. He sat down and leaned against the back of the couch. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I was so cold I usually would have moved closer to him, but I was so freaked out after Kamata's meeting I just sat there.

"What is it with you and possessiveness in public lately?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. I leaned my head all the way back so I could look at him.

"You're wearing another one of Neela's dresses." He let me change the subject, but I knew it was coming back up later. I rolled my eyes. "I can't have guys all over you in _my _garage distracting my driver. They seem to have a problem with respecting what's mine lately." His dark eyes locked on mine and a blushed creeped up on my face. This was a perfect moment for a kiss, but it happened to be the moment a few of the models popped up.

"Han, I'm so glad I finally found you. I leave for Milan tomorrow, and was afraid I wasn't going to see you." A brunette with an Italian accent and fake lips sat down on his left and tried to lay all over him like they used to before the rumors about us started. A dirty blonde Ukrainian girl with sharp facial features I remembered from his birthday party sat beside me. She was fairly soft spoken and just shot me a smile and rolled her eyes at her Italian friend.

"Did you have fun in London?" I asked my Ukrainian friend. Han didn't respond to the Italian and she got annoyed, She wormed her way up against and tried to put her hand on his thigh.

"It was wonderful! I think you'd love it, Eliana." the Ukrainian replied with a slight accent.

"I've always wanted to go. I used to follow a few of the football teams there. I would love to go to a game." I shifted to where I was sitting upright again and not under Han's arm. Han wasn't happy with the loss of contact and pulled me into his lap. I glared up at him and he just shrugged.

"I didn't have time to do anything like that. I did ride around on a double decker bus to see some of the scenery." She answered.

"That would be a lot of fun. Where are you headed now, Ceme- you're going to have to help me pronounce your name." I said. Han chuckled slightly.

"Cemehoba." She corrected gently.

"One day, I'm going to get that right."

"And I'm Cristina." The Italian broke into the conversation abruptly.

"Good for you." I remarked. Han chuckled quietly.

"But you already knew that didn't you, Han?" She purred at him, completely ignoring my jab.

"I'm actually heading back home for a week. I'm so happy to go back and see my family." Cemehoba attempted to diffuse the tension by answering my question.

"When did you two meet?" Han asked.

"Your birthday party." I answered. I glanced up at him and saw the Italian getting angry on his other side.

"I was, of course, there too." Cristina spat. "You remember right, Han?"

"I don't remember you." He finally said. His eyebrows were starting to scrunch together; a sign he was getting angry. He rarely ever did get annoyed over anything, but if he did something really rubbed him the wrong way. It was obvious this girl had slept with him in the past and didn't realize it wasn't going to happen again tonight. After a tense moment of silence I finally thought of a way out. I grabbed at his watch for the time. I noted with satisfaction it was the one I gave him.

"It's already three-thirty! There went my drifting plans tonight." I almost sighed. I had meant to use the excuse of dancing with Twink before he went to bed for school and then slipping off for a drive to get rid of some stress. Twinkie was probably already snoring away despite the people and noise.

"Were we going to go tonight? There's still time if we leave now." Han knocked the Italian off of him with a shrug of his shoulder. I stood up so he could get off the couch. I said bye to Cemehoba and Han acknowledged her with a nod. Cristina was completely ignored.

He wrapped a long arm around my shoulders and pulled me toward the exit, ignoring all of the people that tried to stop to talk. I happened to turn and catch a glance of Shi in the corner of the garage with a champagne glass. He toasted me when I made eye contact and I felt like I had just sealed my own fate.

By the time we were walking through the empty night club section of the garage, I was nauseated and felt like I was about to faint.

"What is going on?" Han asked bluntly. He pulled a chair off of a table top where it had been put up for the night and sat me in it.

"He's going to kill me." I blurted. I could feel the blood draining out of my face. "I have to get out now. I can tell things are changing."

Han sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "Are you sure?"

"Something's wrong. And Shi's here. Something's not right about him being here."

"He's Yakuza." Han stated.

"Yeah." I put my head in my hands as I thought about what I needed to do. "Go back inside and go to bed."

He looked at me like I had lost my mind.

"If he thinks you're helping me, he'll kill me sooner." Han opened him mouth to talk, but I cut him off. "They've done if before. A lot of times before."

I'd seen more with the Yakuza then I'd ever tell Han. The worst thing I had ever done with them was get rid of a body. A stripper was talking to either a journalist or a police investigator and Kamata had her beaten to death. I was still trying to get her blood out of my trunk.

"Pick me up by the overpass." He finally said before he gave me a peck on the lips. He disappeared back through the doors towards the full VIP room. I sat in the dark for about 10 minutes before I put my chair up and went to my car. I managed to time it just right and got to our meeting spot down the back road from Han's garage right as he got there.

By the time four rolled around we were shooting up the side of the mountain. We didn't speak until we got to the very top of the mountain. Han told me to turn down a narrow road I had never noticed before. It was covered on either side by a thick, old forest. It ended at a very old house that had long since fallen in.

"What exactly has been happening with Kamata?" He finally broke the silence as I turned the car off.

"Um, he made me pick up the weeks take from _all _of his businesses." I shuddered thinking about some." When I delivered the money, he spent hours arguing with his number two about the best way to get drugs to this distributor and money to that guy through town. At the very end after I made a comment about keeping up with the Japanese and he suggested I stay with D more. Then when I didn't outright agree, he told me to work on a car at D's garage this weekend."

I wasn't sure I could describe why I thought Kamata was planning to off me, so I didn't even bother trying. Han was smart enough to know the Yakuza was no joke and he knew a lot more of my situation than anyone else did.

"Has he done that to you before?" I glanced at Han's serious expression. The light was low except for a little bit of moonlight, but even if it had been daylight his expression would have still been completely unreadable. The hesitation in his words bothered me the same way Kamata's attempts to get me in D's garage did.

"Before the run I started crying over, when you took me up this mountain, he wouldn't let me talk to anyone outside of D, Morimoto, and Neela. The apartment building I live in, belonged to a dead Yakuza. Kamata took it over when he died. He has ways of keeping tabs on me. I don't understand why; I'm not that important"

"I've heard of your dad." He glanced at me for the first time since he started talking. "He had quite a reputation. He was involved in some things you probably don't need to find out about. His crew is not the people you mess with. If they heard from you they could probably throw a wrench in his little operation. The other side of that coin is that you had been trained by these people. You're young, but you're very talented and smart. He can start using you for bigger and bigger things."

I put my head in my hand for a minute and let everything sink in. Dad's crew might have been causing problems in their glory days, but they got in too deep with someone and it had devastating effects to most of them and the families they set up in their retirement. That started their whole no mafia rule. The few emails I had sneakily sent had not exactly sent them running.

Then there was the issue of Shi. He couldn't be part of the team anymore. I knew he wasn't on my side. I wondered if he had told Kamata about my attempts to contact the family. Or if he had told them they were going to do nothing and that I was not a threat. He was so slimy. He was always a liar and a creep. If I remembered right, he went to jail for manslaughter after hacking some person's email, sending an email to someone he hated asking them to meet, and shooting them in the back of the head while they waited for whoever's email address he hacked to show. It was downright cruel.

"Han, do you have your phone?" I asked urgently. I pulled my head out of my hands and felt my breathing pick up. He was giving me concerned look as reached in his jacket pocket and pulled out his small black cell phone. It wasn't his usual phone and I had a feeling he had been expecting me to ask for it.

"How opposed are you to international calls?" I asked as I fiddled with the buttons.

"Just call, kid. That phone's just for international calls."

I punched the familiar number into the phone. I waited impatiently as it started ringing. I felt a cold sweat start breaking out.

"Whoever this is, it better be good." An ornery voice barked over the line. Typical Miles.

"Miles? It's Ellie." There was a pause on the other end. My breath caught in my throat.

"Ellie?" His hoarse whisper was barely hearable. "Oh my God. Where are you? Are you hurt? I can be on a plane in two hours; just tell me where you are." I felt my eyes fill with tears and start to overflow. I could hear him throwing blankets off and opening drawers to pull on clothes.

"You didn't get the email telling you where I am?" I asked in disbelief.

"No! We thought you were dead! There was blood and everything in the shop was broken and scattered all over the garage. We didn't know anything besides that."

"I need help, but you can't come here. Shi's working with the people that have me. I don't think he told them that I tried to contact you, but things are different now. If he knows I talked to you or sees you here, he'll get me killed."

"We'll figure it out. Just stay safe." He hung up immediately. I snorted as I looked at the phone.

"Doesn't he know I'm smart enough not to call him on my own phone where they can track it?"

"What's going on, Ellie?" Han's look of concern was very obvious now. I must be really bothering him if he let that show.

"I sent a few emails to Dad's old crewmembers. I got a response from everyone telling me to deal with it and they'd help me when I got out of Japan. The only one I actually called was Sean."

"So someone hacked their account."

"Shi's a decent computer hacker and he's obviously not on my side. What exactly is hedoing with the Yakuza?" I asked bluntly.

"I don't know exactly." His eyebrows scrunched; whether it was from thought, concern, or anger I couldn't tell.

"He was running a chop shop for the Triads with cars he stole. He figured out what a good liar he was and took them for all they were worth. He's playing us just like he played them. What the fuck could be in this for him?" The tears flowed freely now. I was panicking so bad I didn't even care that Han was watching.

"You're never going to find out." He said firmly. "I don't give a damn what Kamata does, I'm putting you on a plane out of here as soon as I can."


	17. Confrontations

**17**

**How dare you say that my behavior's unacceptable**

**So condescending unnecessarily critical**

**I have the tendency of getting very physical**

**So watch your step cause if I do you'll need a miracle**

**Harder to Breathe- Maroon 5**

**Z**

"Hey, Han. Is he back yet?" I asked. I picked through the shirts in my closet. I pulled out one, considered it for a moment, then hung it back for a more practical one.

It had been decided that I was going to pack what I wanted to leave with in a laundry bag and stash it at Han's. Today was Saturday, and I was going to take Sean out to dinner and then out for a drive and tell him exactly what I was planning on doing. I had been nervously fidgeting with every tool I touched all day. D had been watching me work on his uncle's new Ferrari and had noticed.

"Something bothering you?" He had asked with raised eyebrows when he caught me agitatedly attempting to open a water bottle with a wrench.

"I haven't seen a GPS wired into a car like this. Plus, it's a Ferrari; I don't work with those much." I had stammered in response. "I don't want to leave any way for the police to track it."

He snorted in response and went back to counting money, but I didn't think he believed me.

"Twinkie said he changed and went out." Han told me quietly. I sighed in frustration; I had a whole other day in D's garage worrying about what to say." I can take you out if you want." He continued. I felt my lips twitch up. It sounded more like a date than anything the way his tone sounded.

"Okay. I need to get out of this apartment before I go crazy from worrying." I responded. I pulled a pair of jeans and a sweater off the hangers to change into.

"I told you; I'm not letting anything happen to you. I'll meet you at the little shop on the corner in an hour?"

"Sounds good to me."

Z

The crowd slipping past me like a current kept almost knocking me over. I had decided that since it was the ending of rush hour, I didn't want to bother with driving. It wasn't a long walk, but dodging the crowds was getting annoying. I was about ready to scream at the next person that bumped into me when someone grabbed my arm. I immediately started to jerk away.

"I'm sorry I scared you. Do you know how to get to the big square that's so famous? I'm new here." A sickly sweet alto voice that I never thought I'd hear again asked in my ear. I jerked around to see my brother's fiancée, Hanna.

She was just like I remembered her. Her dark, wavy hair was pulled in a ponytail and tossed carelessly over her shoulder. Her favorite aviators were pushed on top off her head. She still didn't wear any makeup on her tan face, but she really didn't need it. She still had on her uniform from work at the military base that day with her heavy black boots on. The only change was the sickly sweet tone that she had forced herself to take on, obviously telling me to act like I didn't know her.

"It's down three blocks." I answered with a jerk of my head in the general direction. My heart was pounding into my throat.

"Thank you so much. I never would have found it myself." She answered. She put her hand on my shoulder like some touchy people do when they talk. I felt a hard rectangle in hand press against my arm through my jacket. She let her hand fall off my shoulder by my purse and waved as she walked away. Her hand was now empty.

I forced face to keep the same bored expression it had when she walked up. I crossed the street and walked the rest of the way to the restaurant trying to process what happened.

I got there before Han and slipped into a booth to wait. I scanned the place for anyone that looked connected to the Yakuza. No one stuck out to me so I put my purse beside me and dug through it. My hand landed on a phone that wasn't there before and slipped it in my lap as I pulled out a tube of lip gloss and applied it to my lips. I waited a second before flipping it open in my lap.

I had a few unread text messages which I opened.

**Miles- **_Tracked the number. Sent Hanna to find you. Don't trust anyone but her._

**Zack- **_Overnighting your passport to Hanna. The second you get it run._

**Zack- **_Found Shi's phone records. Working for Yakuza for two years. Suggested Uncle Jorge trade you to get out of his debt. Don't go to him for anything._

The last text was Hanna's address. The contact list revealed everyone's number that I could possibly need. I almost cried thinking about how glad I was that I finally had my family back. I put my phone up before someone noticed it.

I had been sitting for almost five minutes when someone slipped into the booth. I looked up expecting to see Han, but saw some random Japanese guy. He arms and legs seemed to be awkwardly long like he was still waiting to grow into them. His face was still round with baby fat. He probably wasn't much younger, but he was still in the awkward stage I had just gotten out of.

"You're way too beautiful to be alone in a strange country." He started off in thickly accented English. "I would gladly give you a tour, gorgeous."

"Not necessary." I answered in Japanese. He face deflated a little. "You look like a sweet kid, but I don't think I'd be sitting there when the guy I'm meeting gets here."

"Baby, I don't care if he was Kamata himself." He said in Japanese. Obviously this kid thought he was a badass. I was guessing he was probably fourteen.

"Funny you should say that." I heard Han's familiar slow bass in Japanese. He was already holding two cartons of take out. The kid looked a little afraid. "Sorry baby" He gave me a peck on the cheek. "We got to talking when I delivered this week's take; he insisted I have a drink with him."

The kid obviously understood that Han was trying to say he was late from meeting with Kamata -which should have been enough to scare any normal Tokyo civilian off. He was still a little pale but he made no move to get out of Han's seat.

Han apparently decided he wasn't dealing with him anymore and sat on my side of the booth. He really kissed me one time and the kid got the picture and scurried off. When Han finally pulled away from me he had a smug look on his face.

"That wasn't necessary." I told him. He just shrugged and pushed my food towards me as he moved to the vacated side of the booth.

We ate in silence. I was itching to tell him about Hanna, but I didn't dare with the restaurant crowded like it was. Every bit of my paranoia from week one in Tokyo came back.

We were almost done eating when I got a call from DK. I struggled to pull my phone of my pocket. When I finally got it, it was on its last ring. DK was not very happy about that.

"Get over here to my office now." He spat out and hung up. I shut my phone and rolled my eyes.

"I've been summoned by His Highness." I said with as much sarcasm as I could muster. Han stood up for me to get out. "Thanks for dinner."

"Be careful." He gave my hand one quick, inconspicuous squeeze and watched me go out the door.

Z

I walked into DK's storage closet with my hair dripping wet from the sudden rain storm. The clouds had been threatening all night, but the storm broke as I was a street away from the casino. My thin sweater clung uncomfortably to my biceps and my hair was flattened to my head.

DK sent everyone out the second I walked in. It was late, and there weren't as many people there as usual. He stood up from his chair and stalked over to me. He stood in front of my like he was considering what to do, then took the last yard in a single stride and punched me in the face,

His hit brought tears to my eyes and made me take a step backwards. I unconsciously put my hand against my stinging cheek. It took all of my will power not to let the tears start falling. He forced my back against the wall.

"Where was she?" He asked. His forehead was almost on mine and it made it ridiculously hard to think.

"What are you talking about?" I tried to push him off, but he gripped my arms harder. As scared as I was, I couldn't help but notice he was really unfortunate looking from this close up.

"Neela. You were supposed to be watching her and that gaijin." I started to realize why Sean had missed dinner with me. My silence made him even angrier.

"I-don't know. Let me go, and I'll see if I can find out what happened." I answered slowly, hoping to talk him out of strangling me. He let my arms go and put his hands on my rib cage and squeezed. I let a few of the tears fall when it felt like my bones were going to crack under his grip. I hit him in the chest with my closed fists, but he batted them away like I was a fly. I didn't have enough room to pull back and punch him.

"Not so much fun now, is it? If you weren't so busy fucking my partner, you could have stopped this from happening to you. Han's probably with another girl now that you're not there. You really think he cares about you? The second he gets bored you're back to the same place you started all those months ago. "

"You're completely unstable," I whined.

I whimpered in pain when his grip tightened even more. I could feel my ribs bruising. I just knew they were going to break. His words sunk into my head and I knew that if I wasn't getting on a plane soon he would be right. My eyes had been locked on his in fright, but when they slid almost closed so I didn't have to look at him anymore he knew he had me.

"How often have you been giving it up to him? That's what kept him interested, isn't it?" he chuckled sinisterly and pushed himself closer to me. I started sobbing when he put his lips on my neck and then bit down. Thankfully I was lucky tonight and my phone went off again. Unfortunately, he just pressed more of his body weight on me and started pulling at the waistband of my jeans.

"That's a call to work." I whimpered.

He pulled away from me and let me slide down the wall into the floor before walked back to his desk.

"You're lucky you belong to my uncle." He told me when he got behind his desk.

I fled out the door and grabbed my cell phone. My hands were shaking so hard I could barely open it. My knees were buckling badly.

"Hello?" I answered shakily.

"Ms. Gonzalez. I would like you to run a shipment to Kyoto tomorrow during the day. I want you to be at my office at two in the afternoon tomorrow." When Kamata was done with his instructions, he hung up.

I opened the back door and stepped out in the still pouring rain. I practically jogged down the street until I got to the one parking spot I could find 2 blocks away from DK's office I was still crying, but the rain hid it. I hated to cry, but I couldn't stop. I sat heavily in my driver's seat. I didn't even bother shutting the door to keep out the rain. I finally calmed down enough to drive. I had to get out of here earlier.

Z

I snuck in the Han's garage at two that morning. I had grabbed my bag from my garage and spent forever double checking everything I was taking. I had smuggled the clothes, a box of pictures, and my brother's flag out of my apartment in a laundry bag, then repacked it at the garage with my mother's book of poetry into a bag I could take on the plane. I knew I was an overly sentimental person, but for some reason having a piece of the people I loved made me feel not so alone.

The rainwater was still dripping off of me. I was now completely soaked to the bone and shivering from the iciness of the water. My bangs were weighed down and hung directly in my eyes. That was a good thing; it covered my bruised face.

Even though it was a Saturday, it was relatively quietly in the garage. It looked like most of the residents had gone to bed early and people had left to get home before the storm got worse. I slipped down a hall that held the bathrooms and made my way to the very end with my bag slung over my shoulder. Han had crammed a futon in the very corner of the storage room that was filled with spare parts in boxes. Sometimes Han slept in there when he didn't want to be bothered. Either he was there or he was in his actual room with a model.

As I knocked I silently prayed the DK was wrong and that he hadn't brought a girl back here tonight; I couldn't go to Sean or Twink looking like this. I waited for a few minutes in the bare, dark hallway until Han opened the door. His hair was still wet from a shower and completely messed up from where his head had been on a pillow. He was shirtless with black sweat pants on. He had a groggy and confused expression plastered on his face.

I moved my hair out of my face so he could see the bruise blossoming on my cheekbone. The look slowly dissolved into a slight expression of horror. It was the look Earl described him having when his Silvia came up the ramp with Sean driving. I felt a little special bringing out the same expression as his precious car. It briefly crossed my mind that it was a pathetic thought, but I dismissed it quickly.

"What did he do to you?" He asked forcefully. His voice was still clouded with sleep. He reached out to touch my arm in a gesture of concern. I shirked back out of his reach. He adopted a wounded look like I had just slapped him. Aside from that, it was completely unreadable.

"I'm okay. I need to stash my bag." I choked out. I winced when I heard my voice cracked. I sounded like I had been crying.

He took it off my shoulder and wedged it between a shelf and the wall. He reached to pull me into the room from my place at the door frame, but thought better of it and just motioned for me to come closer. I couldn't make out his expression, because the room was dark except for the light from his charging cell phone.

I silently obeyed and sat on the futon he had just vacated. He flicked on the lights to get a better look at my cheek bone. He spotted the bruise on my neck and ran his finger over it. I let him fuss over me for a second.

"You have to talk to me." He told me. He grabbed one of his shirts that he had laying at the bottom of the futon. It was probably the one he tossed off when he went to bed.

"He's unstable. He got angry when I didn't know where Neela was tonight." I answered in a stilted voice. He motioned for me to take off my sweater so I could pull on his dry shirt, but I hesitated.

"What did he do to you?" He asked. He rubbed his finger against the wet material of my sweater at my elbow. He was observant enough to know that he grabbed my upper arms and didn't go further than that.

"He hit me, then he pushed me into a wall and grabbed my arms. He squeezed my ribcage in after that. I felt like my bones were about to pop." I said quietly. I unbuttoned my sweater and slipped it down over my arms. My white tank top was almost translucent from the rain, but I didn't care. "He had to let me go because Kamata called."

"Kamata thinks you're too independent as it is. If he goes to him with something like this it will get you in trouble." He said. He kneeled in front of me to examine the hand prints on my arms. He gently pushed up my tank top to see the bruising on my ribs.

"The guy I called when I was with you, Miles, found me." Han stopped checking out my bruises and looked me dead in the eye. "My brother's fiancée found me on the street and slipped one of those disposable phones in my purse. The tech guy of dad's crew, Zack, did some research and found out Shi has been with Kamata for a while now and was the one that suggest my uncle trade me for his debt. Miles sent my passport."

"When will it get here?" Han asked without hesitation.

"Tomorrow, but I have to go to Kyoto in the afternoon."

"Get the passport in the morning, If you can ditch the guy with you, do it. Leave the second you get the chance. If you can't explain this to Sean, then I will. This isn't like the last time you left; he'll know you had to leave."

"I think I should leave after I get back from Kyoto. He'll look for me if I don't come back." Han considered this, then nodded in agreement.

"Where are you going?"

"I want to go to San Jose, Costa Rica. Miles has a house there and I could use some warm weather." I joked. I was still shivering from the cold water.

"Please change into something dry. Your lips are almost blue."

"There's no point; I'm leaving in a minute."

"Ellie." He began.

"Fine." I grabbed his shirt out of his hand and went to walk out toward the bathroom. He grabbed the sides of my tank top and pulled it off when I turned my back to him.

"Han!" I shrieked, more from the cold air than anything else. He shushed me and poked at my ribs. I flinched in pain. He grabbed the shirt and slipped it over my head. He had obviously worn it at some point that day because it still smelled like cologne.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" He asked. "He knows your apartment number and can easily get Neela's key." The thought really scared me.

"What makes you think he won't look here too?" I responded.

"If he does, I'm here to stop him."


	18. Chapter 18

**18**

**Goodbye to the minute speck of mountain**

**That gathered in my eyes every afternoon,**

**Goodbye to the green neon light that opened**

**Every new night with its lightening**

**Pablo Neruda**

**Z**

The only light in the freezing cold garage was from the streetlamps outside the doors and the few lights left on above the cabinets. My bare feet sounded incredibly loud in the stillness. The still-wet fabric of my jeans swishing together wasn't helping either. I slammed into a metal chair with the inside of my hipbone and had to put my hand over my mouth to physically hold in the yelp. I doubled over until the pain subsided.

After I was able to stand up straight again, I held perfectly still to see if anyone had woken up from that. Deciding everyone was still asleep, I crept the rest of the way to the bunks. The closer I got, the louder the echo of my feet seemed. I kneeled down beside the bunk I thought was Sean and slipped up the screen. He was passed out on his back with his mouth wide open.

I had a slight moment of indecision where I struggled between going back and re-entangling myself with Han under the warm comforter and talking to Sean later, or waking up Sean at four in the morning, in the freezing cold to tell him news that would upset him and ruin his day. I decided that it was best to talk to him while I still had the chance instead of risking running out like I did before.

I put my cold hand on his bicep and he jolted awake. I shushed him quickly. He gave me a sleepy glare and I just pointed to VIP room. I walked in and sat down in one of the round, hanging chairs to wait for him to grab a sweat shirt and join me. It took me back to all those nights ago when Han got me away from Shi. I heard the door screech open and Sean poked his head in.

"What's going on?" He asked. He sat in the chair opposite me.

"I'm leaving tomorrow, Sean." He suddenly looked very awake. "I'm sorry it's so soon, but Kamata's trying to push me back in D's crew and D's getting even more unstable. It's not safe for me and possibly not safe for you."

He sighed and put his head in his hands. I felt guilty for upsetting him, especially after we had gotten close again, but I wasn't backing out of running. He ran his hands across his short hair and looked at me again. There were a few tense seconds of silence which made me start to squirm.

"I love you, but if it's that bad, you shouldn't stay here any- what happened to your face? And your neck? Both of them look like _bite_ marks." He stopped mid sentence when I pushed my flat bangs out of my face. I was trying to think of a quick explanation when the word _both _sunk in. I made a mental note to smack Han dead in the forehead while he was asleep and defenseless.

"I got in a fight. " I recovered.

"With a vampire?" He was almost yelling. I waved at him to keep his voice down.

"DK. He was really going to hurt me, but he didn't get the chance. It's not going to ever happen again, because I'm gone tomorrow." I said calmly. He looked panicky. This was _not _going the way I planned it.

"What time do you leave?" Sean asked in a strained voice. He was obviously putting what almost happened together and trying not to react.

"I have to go to Kyoto this afternoon, then I either leave extremely early in the morning or late that night. I have to make sure I have enough time to leave before he misses me."

"Okay. Okay." He was still freaking out. I got up and gave him a hug.

"I got this. Just trust me. I'll be calling you from Costa Rica and making Twinkie bitch about long distance calls before you know it." I told him. He finally relaxed and hugged me back.

"How are you going to get on a plane without a passport?" He asked softly.

"Hanna. I called Miles and he had Zack send it." He pulled away from me.

"Hanna? In Tokyo?" He asked.

"Yeah. Apparently she's stationed here. She's going to help me."

"I love you." He pulled me closer and just held me for a while.

Z

Ten minutes later I was slipping back into Han's room in the back of the garage. He had obviously woken up and checked the time, because his phone was turned with the obnoxiously bright front screen facing up. I had made him turn it over so I could sleep.

He was passed out asleep on his stomach with his arm beside his head. I thought about messing with him for the mark he left on my neck, but decided against it. I carefully stepped around the boxes and pulled a sweatshirt, jeans, and a baseball hat off the top of my bag. I packed it just in case I needed to change in the airport or something.

I grabbed everything else I could possibly need for the day out of my bag and zipped it back. I had rewedged between the wall and shelf noiselessly and was ready to walk out again when I glanced at Han. He hadn't moved. I decided since I was going to have to come back for my bag, that I could just say goodbye then and let him sleep.

"What are you doing?" He asked sleepily.

I jumped. He sat up slowly and rubbed his eyes. His hair was still comically stuck out in random places. Han was just not a morning person.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up. I was going to change and go to see Hanna." I couldn't see his face well in the low light, but he looked confused. "Brother's fiancée? Passport? "

"Do you have to go now?" He asked.

"Before she goes to work." I confirmed. He mumbled something under his breath. "What?"

"What time is it anyway?" He realized he was closest to the phone and glanced at it. "4:35"

"I can catch her as she's getting ready." He didn't look convinced. He really wasn't a morning person, at all. "Sean freaked when he saw the mark you left on my neck. At least I could blame them both on DK." I said to change the subject.

"It's not that bad." He said with a smug smirk.

"We're in the dark." I shot back. He chuckled.

"Have you already talked to him?"

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep and I knew that I needed to tell him. I didn't get to talk to anyone else, though."

"I can do that."

"Thanks, Han. Go back to sleep. I'll be back later."

"Be careful." He told me. I walked over and leaned down to kiss him.

"I always am."

Z

Despite my sweatshirt, the cold still cut to the bone. I had parked a long way away from the address in the text and decided to walk. Two row of tiny, one story houses were split by a narrow street that still held a few bicycles even though it was so early.

I found the right house on the end of the row. It looked no different from the other twelve on the street. I pushed my black baseball hat back a little to show my face and pushed the buzzer.

A few minutes later and Hanna was standing in the open door. Her hair was on top of her head wrapped in a towel. She had obviously thrown on some sweats to answer the door. She smiled the second she saw me, but it fell when she saw the bruises. She stepped aside for me to come in.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Got in a fight with the mob boss's nephew." I answered. She shook her head and hugged me.

"You remind me so much of Brent." She said quietly.

"I know. I'm sorry." I felt a twist of guilt for bringing everything she had just gotten over back up. I was starting to feel a tightness in throat thinking about Brent.

"Don't be. " She pulled away and reached over to her kitchen counter to grab an envelope. She barely had to take a step because the place was so small. I was suddenly a little grateful for the mafia for setting me up in my apartment.

"Thank you." I said honestly. "For everything."

"It's what families do. You're practically my little sister." She smiled and pushed me towards the door. "We'll catch up over Skype or something later. You can't stay here now. Good luck."

I was out on the street clutching the envelope and almost to my car before I knew what was happening. Dread settled in my stomach as I thought of tomorrow. Everything in the world could go wrong. If I got caught, Kamata and all his vindictiveness would probably come after Hanna. I kept having such vivid flashbacks off my nightmares that a chill would creep down my spine every time I thought about getting caught.

But I had made my choice; tomorrow I was getting out of here, and there was nothing that was going to change my mind.

Z

"You will finish the Ferrari tomorrow, correct?" Kamata drawled over the top of his glass of sake.

Tonight was my last night in Yakuza territory. I had dropped off my last bag and I was done. It felt like a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders to not be a part of this world anymore. I had to be careful not to look to comfortable in front of Kamata.

I didn't have to worry about that long, because it got awkward real he yanked the hat off my head the second he saw it. The shadow it cast had hidden the bruise which was still noticeable, even with makeup. He had raised an eyebrow, but hadn't commented.

"I can have it done seven." I answered. _Which gives me plenty of time to catch my plane at 11:30. _

"Good." He took a long sip of his sake. "You can leave now."

I stood from Kamata's booth in his club and pushed my way through the crowds. I breathed a sigh of relief when I made it through the crowd of guys in the alley. They usually didn't bother me, but they still freaked me out. I wasn't going to miss meetings like that.

One more day. That was it. The only thing standing between me and freedom was a hot Ferrari. I was going to miss the people I met here, but staying wasn't really optional. I spent a lot of time thinking about Han. D was really right; the second I was gone, I would be forgotten. On the bright side, I won the bet I made with Neela that she couldn't make me his girl.

I was about to get out of my car in the parking garage near my building when my phone went off. I stared at the phone Kamata gave me for a second wondering why I didn't have a text, when I remembered my new phone. I had a text.

**Han- **_DK picked a fight with Sean. Come back to the garage. _

I checked the time and sighed. It was getting late and I was completely exhausted. I decided not sleeping well because I was on an old futon was better than D coming after me again.

_Okay but I have to go back to his garage one more time to pick up the car. Meeting with Kamata at 7 pm then flying out at 1130._

I waited a minute for his reply.

**Han-**_ Say your goodbyes here tonight and I'll show you how to work the gun._

I was exhausted enough to find that funny. Han would say that. I started the engine and backed out of my parking space. I had mixed feelings about going tonight. I was glad I had a chance to say goodbye this time, but walking out on everyone here and starting over again was going to be really hard.

It was too late now to back out; I had made my choice, and now I had to stick with it.


	19. Chapter 19

19

It's a strange world in which skating on thin ice can get you into hot water.  
Franklin P Jones.

Z

I was dead asleep dreaming of the beach. Everything was perfect; the sun on my face, the wind tearing at my hair like it was a sail, the warm water swirling at my ankles and the sand under my toes getting pulled out by the tide. I could smell the salt. I could hear the shrill sound of gulls. Everything was perfect. But then I blinked, and I was back in reality.

I was a little sad when I woke up. I was back on the tiny futon in freezing cold Tokyo. I was almost back to sleep when Han rolled over and put his cold hand on my bare, bruised rib cage under the comforter. I jumped at the sudden contact and he started stirring.

"Another nightmare?" he asked sleepily. He realized his hand was on my bruises and adjusted it to my waist. I leaned back into his warmth.

"No. I just got cold. I'm not really going to miss Tokyo weather." I answered.

He hummed in response and started drifting back off to sleep. The plans for tonight started running through my brain and sleep wouldn't come for me. I laid awake for a while listening to Han breathe and trying to get the thoughts of car wrecks and gun shots out of my head. After a while, I tried to readjust to get more comfortable without waking Han, but that failed miserably.

"Still cold?" he asked after he jerked awake. He sounded annoyed at that point.

"No. This felt so far away, and now it's here, and it just feels so final." I answered lamely.

"You can still keep in touch with us over the internet. Isn't that what Hanna told you to do with her?" He sounded like he was about to pass out again.

"Yeah. I'm still going to miss everyone."

"But you'll get to see your family again." He reminded.

"That's true." I rolled over to face him and tried to get comfortable again. He grabbed my hand and put it on his chest, gently pulling me over until I was snuggled up into his side.

"What were they like?" He asked quietly. He rubbed his fingers over the back of my hand gently.

"There's Miles. He's sarcastic, negative, and just a little but mean spirited. He was very good at boosting cars. And there's Zack, the computer guy." I listed out everyone I remembered from over the years. We shared the occasional laugh at some of the descriptions.

"I used to run with a different crew in the Dominican and Cuba, and some other places in South America. It was years ago." Han said quietly when I was done.

"It's hard to picture you not where you are now." I stated sleepily.

"Yeah, I have only been here like two years, I think. I left my old crew when things got too hot and came here." I really wanted to ask about his old crew, but I hated to do it if he didn't want to talk about them.

"That's how we wound up in Arizona. It wasn't that big of a change, but it worked" I said.

"I don't know where anyone went after we split. There were two brothers-Puerto Rican, actually- they never stopped arguing. All I heard was them chattering in Spanish. It got on my nerves." Han chuckled.

"And then we had a girl named Cara and a girl named Letty. You would have gotten along with Letty. She was stubborn and opinionated. She wasn't a prissy girl that didn't like getting dirt under her fingernails; Cara kind of was."

"I like her already." I responded quietly. "She sounds like Hanna."

"Yeah, she really does. Her boyfriend Dominic Torretto ran everything. He always had the plan. He was a very good racer. I think you'd like him too."

"Yeah. They all sound like good people." Han's deep voice had lulled me almost back to sleep. I was still exhausted and had to get up in an hour to tell everyone goodbye. Han pulled me closer so my head was resting back on his chest instead of his pillow. Before I knew it, I was back on the beach.

Z

The light from the rising sun was just starting to hit the garage floor when I got up to say goodbye. Everyone was dragging their feet trying to get ready for school. Twinkie was already talking way too loud for it to be so early. He was the first to see me.

"Did you stay here last night?" His grin got very wide. He pointed to the mark D left on my neck. I quickly cupped my hand over it with a blush. I'd forgotten to cover it again.

"There's a spare room." I reminded. Which Han was still sound asleep in. Maybe he wouldn't notice. He glanced at the bunk Han normally slept in when he wasn't in his bedroom. Luckily Earl started making jokes and Twinkie was distracted.

"Hey, ya'll need to be nice to me." I replied to his teasing.

"Why's that?" He shot back.

"I'm skipping town." I told them quietly. They both got quiet.

"Good luck." Earl gave me a hug.

"Yeah, girl. Be careful." Twinkie grabbed me the second Earl let go. He almost finished cracking my ribs.

"I'm going to miss you guys." I said when Twink stopped crushing me.

I saw Reiko walk over to the locker where she kept her back pack. The boys saw where I was looking and stepped off so I could talk to her.

"Hey." I said when I got close enough.

"Hey. You're here early." She adopted the same grin as Twink.

"I had to talk to everyone before I left." Her grin fell.

"Tonight?"

"Yeah." She gave me a hug.

Reiko and I had gotten to be good friends. I didn't get along with a lot of other girls because I was so used to hanging out with the boys, but we got along great. It was nice to have another girl who actually knew the parts of an engine and wasn't just pretending for attention.

"Good luck." She told me with a smile.

"Thanks. Do you know where Sean is?" I asked.

She pointed over by the bathroom. He was just walking through the door into the garage. The damage D did to his face was painfully obvious. He saw me and started walking over. Reiko left to let us talk.

"Hey." He said.

"Hey. I leave at 11:30 tonight. I've got to come by to get my bag, but I can't stay long." I told him.

"I know." He gave me a hug.

"I love you." I told him. I wrapped my arms around him tightly. I felt my eyes start to burn.

"I love you, too."

"Sean, we have to go." Earl called. I felt my heart sink. I thought I had a lot more time than this.

"Be careful." He told me as he let go. I didn't respond.

I watched him get his bag and walk to the Hulkmobile with Twink and everyone else. I felt the first couple tears start to slip down my cheek. When they were gone I turned and walked back to the storage room. I really hoped this was not the last time I saw them.

I snuck in and shut the door behind me. I yanked off my jeans and sweatshirt and threw them on the floor with the rest of the random articles of clothing from last night. I was about to slip back under the comforter beside Han, when I took a second to look at him. His full, small lips were pursed ever so slightly and his forehead was wrinkling from his dream. His arm moved out beside him like he was looking for something. I felt another few tears run down my cheeks and tried to hold in the rest.

I watched his eyes flutter open and look at me without understanding. He blinked a couple times until the fuzziness cleared and held up the comforter for me. I slid in beside him and settled back against the pillow.

"You're going to make it." I glanced up with watery eyes at Han. He wiped a few tears away. " You're going to be fine."

"Thank you."

"For what?" He smiled at me.

"Just everything."

Z

I was cleaning up the Ferrari in the safety of my own garage when the door was roughly pushed open. I jumped when it smacked against the cinderblock wall. A chill ran down my spine and in a quick moment of panic I dropped my cleaning rag and grabbed the nearest wrench. I dropped down so I was squatting beside the door of the car.

"Ellie? Are you here?" Neela's desperate voice cried out. She was obviously crying. I dropped my wrench and stood up. She practically ran over to me and started sobbing into my shoulder. I wasn't good at comforting people so I just stood and let her cry.

"He wouldn't let me go." She muttered in between sobs. I had known she was out with Sean and D didn't like, but I never thought he'd get physical with her too. After thinking about his encounter with me, I realized how wrong I was.

"It's okay." I told her. I couldn't decide if I was lying or not. When I was gone, there was nothing to keep D from stalking her.

"No, I have to get away from him." She pulled herself off of me and stood up. Her plaid tie was completely askew and tears were still rolling down her face.

"I do too." I told her softly.

"He came after you?" She asked.

"Yeah. He would have raped me." I pointed to my cheek. Understanding crossed over her face and she looked horrified. "I'm leaving tonight, Neela." I knew telling her was not in her best interest, but after everything I couldn't leave her in the dark.

"Good." She tried to smile. "Though I guess I lose the bet, huh?"

"Yeah. I guess so." I pulled a metal folding chair over for her and started working again.

"I'm leaving him." She said after a long silence. I let out a noncommittal sound and continued polishing so she could talk. "I can't do this anymore. He's not the man I fell in love with." She fell silent for a minute "Will you say something?" She snapped when I didn't respond.

"I think you should. I don't see him the way you do, but what I've seen of his personality is unstable and abusive. He loves you, but all of that is eventually going to be turned on you. It's going to be hard because you're part of his family, but it's not safe for you." I told her honestly.

"Thank you. No one else will tell me honestly." I glanced at her from across the car.

"You're welcome."

"What was dating Han like?" She asked hesitantly.

"What?" I started laughing.

"Did he take you out on dates or did you just make out on elevators in parking garages?" She started laughing too. I felt my face heat up.

"He brought me gummy worms and I read him Chilean poetry. We're just like Romeo and Juliet." I responded sarcastically. She started to look happier. "We would meet at this little restaurant. I can't remember the name. That's as close to a date as we got."

"Yeah, but no matter how many girls were hanging off of him he still looked at you. That's sweet." She said. I rolled my eyes at her.

"Kind of like Sean looking at you. But instead of girls, it was Twinkie making him hold the merchandise he was selling." She giggled.

"I'm going to miss you, Ellie." She said.

I was going to miss her too.

Z

I killed the engine of the Ferrari on the street beside Kamta's office building, exactly where he wanted it parked. I sat there for a long time running my hands over the steering wheel. I had just gotten off the phone with Neela. She had decided she was going to take my car, grab a change of clothes from DK's grandmother and leave him for Sean.

I was happy for her, of course, but I was also afraid for both of us. There was no way D was taking this like a man and letting her go. I decided that worrying wasn't going to help and stepped out of the car. All I had to do now was hand Kamata the keys, get to Han's and pick up my bag and car, and get to the airport. If Kamata called me back for anything and I didn't show up, I was screwed.

The usual ugly-as-sin guard was waiting for me at the door. He tossed away his glowing cigarette and led me back into Kamata's office. He was sitting at his desk giving me his creepy smile. Without sitting down in the chair, I dropped the keys on his desk and waited to be dismissed.

"Sit." He told me. Wordlessly I complied. "You got the GPS out of the Ferrari and redid the registration?"

"Yes sir." I answered quickly. I felt a cold sweat start down my spine. My gut was telling me to get out of there immediately, but I passed it off as anxiety over getting away. He couldn't be about to get rid of me tonight. He had been extremely happy with the progress of the Ferrari and had backed off on the possessiveness a little bit.

"You chose to work on it outside my nephew's garage?' He asked slowly. I bit my lip. He took in the spot of purple on my face poorly concealed by powder and didn't push it.

"I understand you have some-connection with his partner." He drawled. I jerked my left eyebrow up as far up my forehead as I possibly could.

"I know him from Takashi." I said slowly.

"Very well from what I've heard." A blush hit my face, but I didn't respond. "Well enough to know that he was stealing from me." My mouth fell open.

"No." I responded. This was not good; I needed to leave. I made a moved to stand, but was forced back in my chair by my shoulders by the guard from the door. Kamata sighed.

"I knew you were trouble." He opened a drawer and removed a hand gun. My heart felt like it was bouncing off my rib cage. I had the gun I was given in my waistband, but I would be dead long before I got a shot of in a building full of armed mobsters.

"I didn't know. I swear!" My face drained of blood. I sounded like I was begging.

"I don't care." He responded harshly. I started shaking. "All you had to do was drive for me. It was simple. Then you started fucking the thief who filled your head with empty hope. You will not get away from this. Not even you can worm your way out of this one."

I couldn't breathe. It felt like an elephant stepped in the middle of my chest. Not even the worst of my nightmares compared to the fear I felt now. I was breaking out in a cold sweat. I was shaking and it felt like my limbs had turned to noodles. I couldn't move.

Kamata continued to stare at me. It was like he wanted me to beg. I couldn't even if I wanted to; I was too paralyzed to force my jaw to unlock itself. He shook his head and motioned at the man behind me. He jerked me out of the chair by my already bruised upper arm. I cried out in pain and he hit me in the face with his other arm. I could taste the blood in my mouth.

He dragged me out towards the door. I finally found the ability to move again and started grabbing at furniture, causing a vase on a table to shatter on the floor. I got a good grip on a door frame. He paused to land a few more hits on me. I expected him to stop and keep dragging me, but the blows kept coming. He landed a few body shots on me and this time my ribs cracked for real. I tried to fight back but it was completely pointless. He slammed my head backwards into the door frame and I went completely limp.

"Leave her somewhere for Takashi to handle. It's time he learned how to handle traitors." I heard Kamata order in Japanese. He sounded strangely far away.

My vision started to fuzz out like a broken television. The world reeled for minute, and then everything went black.


	20. Chapter 20

**20**

**All we had is gone now**

**Tell them I was happy**

**And now my heart is broken**

**All my scars are open**

**Tell them what I hoped would be**

**Impossible.**

**Z**

Pain. In my dim, fuzzed out mind that was the only thing to make sense. The closest thing besides the pain was a bone chilling cold. There was an urgent prick in my brain that cut through the fog like a laser. I tried to get back to the blackness that hid the pain, but that niggling feeling wouldn't go away.

I sighed. It sent a sharp, crushing pain through my rib cage. It knocked the breath out of me. After fighting to get it back to the dull throb, everything started to get a little clearer. My face was sore and pressed against a flat surface. My arms were completely numb, but there was a dull throb at my shoulders. I tried to clear my head and go back to sleep, but it wouldn't work.

_Kamata. Han. Sean. _The little prick in the back of my brain reminded. Suddenly, I was coherent again. It was like someone tossed a bucket of ice water on me. I _had _to get to Han and out of here before he came back with Takeshi. I didn't know how much time had passed. I hoped it wasn't too late for Han.

I started working on wiggling my toes. When that was accomplished, I moved my aching, stiff legs. I attempted to move my arms, but realized they were yanked together and tied behind me. My heart started to sink. After a moment of struggle, all I accomplished was hurting myself and figuring out that I was held my zip ties. I couldn't exactly pick those.

A feeling of rock-bottom helplessness crashed over me. My eyes started to burn and few bitter tears started slipped out. My eyes were almost swollen shut. I tried to pry them open further, but it made no difference because everything was dark.

I was about to die. I was only seventeen years old, and I was about to die. There was no way out of this. I was going to have to lay here until they came back to kill me. To slowly torture me to death. Anger burned in my chest and fought the cold feeling of helplessness.

None of this was my fault. I was just a kid. It was my uncle's fault for being a gambling addict, my dad's for agreeing to bail his butt out, and Han's for trying to pull a fast one on Kamata. Why was I paying for it?

I laid on the cold floor and wallowed in self-pity. I was so close. I had the plane ticket in my waiting car with my waiting suitcase. I had the gun in my waistband in case I had to fight my way out and the phone in my bra. I had a debit card from one of Han's accounts and wire cutters and a lock pick in my shoe in case I couldn't make it to Han's. _Oh._

When the realization that it wasn't over hit, I took a second to calm myself down and think. I slowly started to pull my foot towards my bound hand. Moving after lying sprawled on the floor where I had been tossed hurt. I finally made it up to my numb fingers and started trying to pull the wire cutters out. After a few tries, I managed to get them. Forcing my clumsy fingers around the cutters hurt, but I finally managed to cut myself free.

My arms snapped apart. My shoulders cried out in protest, but I forced myself to ignore it. I pulled my aching arms up in front of me to wipe the tears streaming down my cheeks. My hands met my swollen skin. The skin was broken in a few places, and every touch set pain streaming down my nerve endings, but aside from that, the probably broken ribs on my left side, and the burning around my wrist for the zip tie, I was okay.

I started clumsily moving my arms and legs out to see if I could figure out where I was. My toes and fingertips almost instantly brushed the hard surface of the base board. I was in the coat closet. All I had between me and the front door was the waiting room.

I pulled my legs under me and did my best to stretch up to reach the lock. Every stiff muscle and bruise screamed in pain. I grabbed the lock pick out of my sock and waited to see if I heard anyone outside the door. Several tense minutes passed with nothing but the sound of a mouse behind the baseboard. I started fumbling with the lock pick, pausing every so often to listen for movement. I got the lock and started focusing on standing up. It took an agonizing six tries to get myself shakily on my feet.

I ran my hand through the jackets in the closet. I found a zip-up hoodie and dragged it off the hanger. I pulled it on with a lot of difficulty and pulled the hood up. I didn't have any sunglasses to hide my black eyes and busted lip, but it would have to do. I pulled the gun out of my waistband so I wouldn't get tangled in my extra long sweatshirt if I needed it. I went ahead and chambered a round like Han showed me, just in case.

I was surprised they hadn't taken it, but the ogre that dragged me back obviously didn't search me.

I gently turned the knob and peeked out the door. I couldn't see well out of my swollen eyes, but it didn't seem like anyone was in the room. I pulled the door open slowly and started creeping out. I moved slowly so I wouldn't hurt myself or make any noise. I was almost out the door when I heard a noise behind me. I froze and waited to be shot for a second before I realized it was in one of the back offices.

I yanked my phone out the second I was free. I tried to adopt the stride of an arrogant mobster who would destroy anyone that looked at him wrong, but at five feet tall that was rather difficult. I dialed Han's number as I speed walked away from that place. Every stepped jarred my broken ribs.

The phone was ringing when I heard someone screaming at me in Japanese. I jerked around to see the other guard that was always hanging off of Kamata. It wasn't the ugly one, but he was usually on stationed at Kamata's other shoulder. He was yelling at me to stop. I froze like a scared mouse about to get nabbed by the owl. I let my hand fall away from my ear and close, shutting the phone. I put it in my pocket and slipped out my gun. He reached at his hip to draw his gun. I saw no other way out of it; I raised the gun and fired.

Horror spread through me as I saw him fall. I started backing away slowly. I spotted a parked car and started running for it. My lungs were screaming in pain when I reached it. I grabbed the door handle and it opened without a problem. I found the key hanging from the ignition. That meant it was a Yakuza's car; no one else would leave it unprotected like that. I turned the key with shaking hands. The icy fear from the nightmares was nothing compared to what I was feeling now.

I took off from the curb. I was lucky that the car was an automatic. I redialed Han's number with the phone on speaker. My heart beat faster with every ring. I prayed I wasn't too late.

"Ellie! You're running late are you almost here to get your car?" Han's joyful voice came through the earpiece. A few tears slipped as I squeezed my eyes shut in relief as long as possible without wrecking. He wasn't dead yet.

"Not exactly." I said quickly. I was having trouble breathing and talking at once.

"What?" Han asked.

"Kamata-knows-money-you need to run." I choked out. It was getting hard to breathe.

"What about you?" He asked worriedly. I heard the unmistakable sound of D's engine. My jaw dropped in horror.

"Han!" I cried out best I could. I glanced down at my phone. He had hung up.

"Damn it!" I hit the steering wheel with my good arm. I had to get help. There was no way I could save myself, let alone Han. I shouldn't have even been driving. I pushed Hanna's speed dial.

This was one of those time when I wish I could call my dad. He was made for situations like these. He taught me the driving, and I picked up the criminal skills from his crew, but I was not equipped to handle this. The old veterans from my dad's crew were barely equipped for this; most of them retired and scattered to keep the mob off their tail.

"Hey, girl-"

"Hanna, I got caught. Kamata's after the guy helping me." I gasped out. The adrenaline was starting to kick in, but I was still hurting.

"Are you hurt?" She immediately took charge of the situation.

"Beaten to a pulp, but fine. I had to shoot someone. I stole a car." I admitted.

"Okay. I'm on the street beside the huge square. I'm actually with a doctor. Is it easier for you to come to us, or us to go to you?" She asked calmly.

"I'll meet you there. I'm so scared. I can't breathe" I told her.

"I know. I'm going to stay on the line with you." I heard the sound of people screaming and screeching tires floated over the phone.

"Hanna, what's going on?"

"What does your friend drive?" She asked urgently.

"Orange and black Rx-7, veil side body kit. Sean drives a red Evo with some silver graphiti painted on the side." I said. I was so worried for him and Sean.

"Shit." She hung up without warning.

I pulled off to the side. I was panicking and couldn't get my breath again. I was in a more populated section of town so I decided I'd walk from there. I found a pair of sunglasses and put them on. I got out of the car and people stepped out of my way. I glanced back to see the Mercedes symbol on the hood of the car. In my haste to get away I hadn't even noticed.

I had to put Han and Sean out of my mind for now. I didn't want to, but I had to save myself before I could ever help them. I pulled the hood over my head and pushed my way into the crowd.

Z

"Ellie, are you on the plane yet?" Twinkie's concerned voice floated over the earpiece.

"No. I just got away from Kamata. I missed my flight. Are Han and Sean okay?" I asked.

"Baby girl," He hesitated. I felt my heart drop. "Han was in a wreck. He- he didn't make it."

The tears started falling. The sobs wracked my chest. I was in so much pain I put my back against the brick wall of a building and just slid down.

"Sean's okay. I'm going to go see him now. Do I need to come get you?" He said soothingly.

"No. You don't need to be near me. If they catch us, they'll kill you too." I told him.

"Okay. Call me if you need anything; and I mean anything. I'll be right there."

"I will." I hung up.

How could Han be dead? He was _Han._ The fact didn't compute in my concussed brain. I wasn't even angry at him for bringing Kamata down on me; I was expecting that. None of this made any sense to me. It couldn't be real. It hurt worse than the broken ribs.

I wanted to sit there and try to figure it all out. I was tired and I wanted to go to sleep and wake up back on his futon with him beside me; but I knew better. I had been there way to long. I had to get out of there. I had Han's debit card. I could get on the train and go somewhere-anywhere. I just couldn't stay in Tokyo.

I had forced myself up and was walking back into the crowds when my phone rang again. It was Hanna this time.

"Hello?" I couldn't hide the fact I was still crying.

"Find a place where I can pick you up. I have your friend; he's alive."


	21. Chapter 21

21

Z

_Alive? _

The word echoed numbly in my head. It kept reverberating through my skull the whole time I waited for Hanna to pick me up off a street corner. I spent the car drive through random streets pondering what the attempt on Han's life would do to Sean. I doubted DK let Neela go. If Sean was okay, then something had to have happened to my friend. I was worried for both of them; Sean would have a hit out on him, and Neela might already be dead.

Hanna took a detour by her house to clean me up and get me some clean clothes. We never really spoke. I was still in too much shock to ask how or why she saved Han. She didn't offer the story either.

Before long I was standing in an empty hall wall in the old hospital on the run down side of Tokyo. It was shut down when one of the new ones was built and used to hold the outdated equipment. It still held the bleachy, pungent smell of disinfectant, but it had an overtone of stale air and mold. The building was almost completely dark except for the occasional lit hallway. They didn't cast much light because of the amount of burned out bulbs.

Hanna had left me alone in the semi dark hallway outside of Han's room so I could go in when I was ready. I was a little afraid to be left alone, but I was also afraid of what I would see behind the door. I had seen myself in the bathroom mirror at Hanna's and I definitely didn't want him to see me in the shape I was in. I finally steeled myself enough to walk in.

What I saw scared me. Han was laying flat on an ancient hospital bed hooked up to a pre-historic heart monitor and an IV. His tan face was pale and scraped. He was shirtless with a few layers of sheets tossed over him. His visible skin was covered in blotchy, purple bruises and burns. A second hospital bed had been pushed up next to his to make it a double bed.

I slowly walked over and ran my hand through his messy black hair. His lips pursed together and his eyelids scrunched at the contact. I removed my hand and sat heavily down in a rickety wooden chair placed beside the bed. A pain shot through my ribs as I struggled not to cry again.

"You must be Eliana." The croaky voice of an old man said from behind me. I glanced over to see a small, grandfather age Japanese man.

"Yes." I answered shakily. I felt a few of the tears slip.

"He's been asking for you." He told me. He extended a box of tissues towards me. I took them gratefully. "None of that, now. You're both safe here for a while. This place is basically condemned."

"Are you the doctor?" I asked.

"Yes. I set his right leg. I have his femur splinted and wrapped now." He pulled the blankets aside to show the tightly wrapped bandages and an old leg brace. "He also has some fractures on his hip and bruised ribs. He'll be hurting for a long time, but he's going to be okay."

"Thank you for doing this." I told him. I felt a lot better hearing that Han hadn't broken his spine or something.

"You're welcome. It feels good to do something to defy Kamata." He spat. A smile twitched at my split lips. He was a cute little old man and the words didn't fit in his mouth.

"You too, huh?" I asked jokingly.

"I lost my practice because of him forcing me to treat a few of his men. Almost spent a few years in jail for it."

"I'm sorry." I said.

"Don't be. He just messed up my job; feel bad for the people whose lives he totally destroyed." I looked at Han's pale face for a few long minutes. I could feel the doctor's eyes boring into the side of my head.

Had Kamata really destroyed what we had? Probably not. We were all still alive and we had a golden opportunity to escape. Sean and Neela were the ones he could do the most damage to. Neela was probably not in a good place right now and Sean was entirely too stubborn to just go home.

"Everyone else has to go home tonight in case people question where they were. You should be safe here. I knocked him out with some drugs, so he should sleep through the night, but there are no pain meds here if he doesn't. It should be alright for you to sleep on his left side; just be careful not to get to close to him. I'll be back to check on him when I have a chance tomorrow." The doctor turned to leave.

"Wait!" I cried as he was shutting the door. It stopped an inch from closing. He didn't open it again, but I knew he was listening.

"Is Hanna still here?" I asked.

"At the top of the stair well." I saw his shadow head off in the opposite direction from the crack in the door. I slipped off my chair and walked out in the hall.

I saw the doctor's back as he turned the corner to go out another exit. I looked back in the direction Hanna brought me and saw nothing but blackness. When my eyes adjusted to the light in the hallway, I barely saw her silhouette. She was sitting with her back against wall with one leg outstretched and the other pulled up to her chest. She was resting her forehead on her upright knee.

She lifted her head when I got close to her. She gave me the same helpless look I'm sure a gave Han in the storage room after Sean yelled at me. I sat down beside her and waited until she was ready to talk.

"You want to know why I did it, don't you?" She asked bluntly.

I nodded silently.

"I was walking back from a restaurant with a few of the guys from the base. One of the older guys knew the doctor from something and invited him to go with us. When I was on the phone with you, I saw Sean in a red Evo go flying across traffic, and two seconds later a charcoal grey Nissan Z shooting at an orange and black Mazda Rx-8. I figured if he was getting shot at, he was the guy Kamata was after. He knocked the Z out of the way, but got T-boned and flipped at the intersection."

She sighed tiredly. She ran her hand through her hair and it got snagged. When she finally got it untangled, I noticed it got hung on her engagement ring sitting on her right hand.

"I don't know why I did it. I just reacted. Two of the other guys rushed over with me and we got him out right quick. Not two seconds after we had him free, the car exploded. The guy chasing assumed we didn't get him out and drove off."

"I'm glad you did it." I told her quietly.

"I guess, I just," She huffed in frustration. " I kept thinking, 'what if someone had done that for Brent'. I know that's completely irrational, and there was nothing anyone could have done, but still. I would be getting married next week." Her voice started to choke with tears.

My heart wrenched inside my chest. I had forgotten about the wedding date. I had forgotten how much she loved him. I felt selfish walking back into her life after all this time. She had probably just put it passed her.

I didn't know what to say.

Z

I had no idea where I was when I woke up, or how I fell asleep when I was in that much pain. My aching face was an inch from a bent metal bar. I tried to sit up and felt a sharp pain from my rib cage. I stayed still long enough for the sharp pain to subside and a dull ache to set in. I felt fingertips brush against my spine. I suddenly remembered where I was; crammed against the side of a hospital bed beside a very hurt Han.

"Han?" I whispered.

"I'm here." He said quietly. He sounded like he was in pain.

I carefully pulled the blankets off of me and slid over the railing. It hurt, but it was better than crawling over Han. He watched me try to stretch my stiff muscles without hurting myself through half open, sleepy eyes.

"What did he do to you?" He asked quietly when I got most of the stiffness worked out of my knees.

"Just the face and some hurt ribs." I moved to touch one of the worst bruises on my cheek. I noticed the cuts and bruises on my wrists from being tied. " And that. You're a lot worse off. The doctor said there wasn't anything for pain, but he-"

"Don't worry about me." He cut me off. He took in my face for a few seconds. I felt extremely self conscious under his gaze. "You shouldn't have been put in that position."

"That would have happened to me any way you look at it, Han." I retorted. "Eventually he'd find a better driver to take my spot and I would've been gone. "

"You wouldn't have been beaten half to death." He said stubbornly. I could tell he was in horrible pain, but neither one of us wanted to stop this argument. "What happened exactly?"

"I got too independent, he didn't like that I had someone out of his nephew's watchful eye, so he had me beaten and locked in a closet. He was going to let Takeshi handle the rest." I told him. I was glossing over the fact that he screamed at me about Han taking the money. I was hoping he wouldn't notice, but when he snorted I knew I was about to start another argument.

"You left out the part where he accused you of helping me take some of the money, didn't you?" He asked. Even in too much pain to move, nothing got passed him. He took my silence as a yes. "You should never have been with me, Ellie. This world is too dangerous for you."

"I was not exactly sheltered, Han. My mom was an addict and my dad couldn't stop hotwiring cars to save his life. I saved myself and you, in case you didn't notice. I shot somebody and-" My voice kept getting louder and louder.

"You did what?" Han cut in.

"I left the closest door open. He noticed and came after me. He was raising his gun-I had to." I sat heavily in the chair. He reached out and put his hand on the back of my neck.

"You never told me about your mom." He said quietly.

"Yeah, she was a racer chaser. Didn't adjust well to motherhood. When I was working for Kamata, I always felt like I was causing other people to go through what I did."

"It's over." He told me.

"Yeah. I guess."

"Let's leave together." He said suddenly.

"What?" I glanced over at him. He looked a little out of it and completely serious at the same time. "What ever happened to 'you shouldn't be with me'?" He gave me a glare.

"There's nothing here for us now. If you stay here with Sean you're going to die and get Sean killed. My garage has probably been seized at this point, so I'm out on the street."

"Fine, let's leave together." I said slowly. I was still giving Han an incredulous look.

"You don't like the idea."

"I do, but what are we? Bonnie and Clyde? Destroy the town and then leave on to the next one?" I asked.

"I'm cool with that. Minus the dying in a hail of gunfire." I chuckled and winced at the pain it caused.

There was a knock at the door and both our heads snapped towards it. I picked up the gun from where I had put it on one of the ancient machines.

"It's Twink and the doctor." Twinkie yelled. I threw open the door and gave him a one armed hug with my good side. He dropped my duffel bag that I had packed on the inside of the door then wrapped his arms around me. "I'm glad to see you too."

The doctor nodded to me and immediately slipped past to check on Han. I felt Twinkie move to look over my head and stiffen at what he saw. He stiffened even worse when I pulled back and he got a good look at my face.

"Would you two mind stepping out for a moment?" The doctor asked with quiet authority. We slipped through the door and closed it softly behind us.

"What's going to happen with Sean?" I asked bluntly. Twinkie sighed.

"He's gonna race DK on _his _mountain. Loser skips town." He looked upset at the idea.

"Did he find a car or do we need to get him one?" I asked without hesitation. Twinkie looked shocked.

"You're okay with this?" He asked incredulously. I nodded my head.

"He can do it. He's grown up a lot; if he can walk up to Kamata and work this out, then he can keep his head in a race with DK. Takeshi will get over emotional and screw himself over." I answered. Twinkie couldn't see the flaw in my argument, but he still wasn't happy.

"The race is in three days. Are you going to be there?"

"No. I can't be seen. Speaking of which, how'd you find out about this place?"

"Army brat. " He answered.

"Can you do me a huge favor?" I asked slowly.

"Anything."

"Don't tell anyone, or bring anyone by. Let them find out after the race." I told him seriously. He agreed.

We weren't standing there long when the doctor came out of the room. He pulled me into the room next door to check over my injuries and left Twinkie with a now doped up Han.

"He has to wait a month before he leaves, but you should go the second your bruises can be covered with make up." He told me when he was done examining my ribs.

"I'll wait for him." I said stubbornly. We'd been through this much, a little more time wouldn't hurt.

"I hope that doesn't come back to bite you."

Z

It was the night of the race, and I couldn't be still. A very annoyed, semi-conscious Han was glaring at me from his bed as I paced the floor. The more annoyed he got, the further out he pushed his lips. Finally he couldn't take it anymore.

"Either stop doing that or give me something to knock me out." He grumbled. I stopped my pacing and went to stand beside him.

"Sean's racing tonight!" I reminded him.

"He's got this. Both of us know it." He told me.

"Yeah but anything can happen-" I continued ranting on what could go wrong. Han shook his head and started looking through my bag which was sitting on the chair beside him. He pulled out the book of poems and tossed it at me. It bounced of my stomach, but I caught it before it hit the floor.

"There are nicer ways to ask someone to read to you." I joked. Han shook his head and laid back flat again. I had been reading him random sonnets every night. My slight accent and the Spanish words put him right to sleep.

I flipped to a random page and started reading. By the end of the first page his eyes were flickering shut. I went a few more pages before deciding he was asleep and shutting the book.

"Why did he do it?" He asked me quietly out of the blue. I stared at him for a few seconds thinking he was talking in his sleep before I saw his eyes open again. "Why'd he do it?"

"Do what?" I asked. I wasn't sure if he knew what he was talking about.

"Your dad retiring. Why?"

"He was older. A new generation had kind of taken over. He had been around long enough to see the people he raced against or worked with get shot or arrested. He found out a psychotic racer chaser he was with was having Brent. For some reason, he couldn't let his kid get turned over to the state or something. He kept pulling jobs for a while, but with Brent at home, he didn't want to be one of the unlucky ones that didn't make it back."

Han was silent. He shut his eyes again and mulled it over. I stood beside his bed trying to figure out if he fell asleep or was going to answer.

"I think I know someone that can get us out of here. " He trailed off and I waited to see if he'd connect the two things. "We could leave tomorrow if I call now. Kamata puts his more injured people here, and we could still get caught."

"Where would we go?" I asked quietly.

"Where ever we wanted. " Han looked at me like he couldn't believe I didn't get you.

"That's the pain killers talking. You can't leave for another month." I informed him.

"Private plane. Steal an ambulance, load me on a gurney and take me to the airport." He huffed when I raised my eyebrows and started digging for my phone in my bag.

I handed it to him and listened to him work out a plan.

"We're going to Columbia. We leave at 3 o'clock tomorrow morning." He told me. He sounded tired after talking so long. "It's not going to be like this, Elle."

I glanced at him from my place beside his heart monitor. For a long time the steady beep was the only sound in the room. He seemed to be resting a second before he continued. He had been exhausted after staying awake most of the day. He moved his arm by his left side and I took that as I signal to lay beside him. He wrapped his arm around my shoulders and waited for me to get comfortable.

"I have enough money to start us over. We should be able to stay there for a while; I don't think either of us will be doing anything more illegal than street racing." He chuckled humorlessly. "And what you do when we get away from this place is your choice; if you want to walk away, when the plane touches down and I can get you a flight to where ever you want to go. I think your dad had point; you can't live like this forever. You have to take care of what's important."

The phone Han still held in hand started ringing. He was too tired to answer it, so he handed it to me. On the other end was an ecstatic Twinkie, a safe Neela and a victorious Sean. After hearing the story of every twist and turn I told them we were leaving. They wished us the best and we hung up. I looked at Han to see him wearing a triumphant smile.

"It's nice to leave on a good note." I told him. He leaned over and gently brushed his lips against my healing split ones.

"I'm glad I won't be alone this time." He muttered before dropping off to sleep with his chin on my shoulder. I started to think about everything we had to do as I drifted off to sleep with dreams of the ocean.

I knew this was going to be the hardest thing I had ever done, but he was right; it felt good not to be alone. Getting started was going to be rocky; especially with Han unable to walk. But if we got away from the toughest mob boss in Japan, this was going to be a piece of cake.

I was glad Han had given me a choice about staying in Columbia. Deep down, I knew I would stay with him at least until he was able to take care of himself again. If things worked out between us, I might even stay there permanently.

After all, what was Bonnie without Clyde?


	22. Chapter 22

22

The sunlight warmed my face as I finally pried my eyes open. I scrunched them back closed again quickly to escape the harsh light and rolled over to bury my face in Han's chest to further block it out. He adjusted beside me and slung his arm around my waist over the sheet.

We had been in Columbia two years. I had never been happier.

We found a little house about a mile from the beach. A wide, shady porch wrapped most of the way around it. It was my favorite place to sit and enjoy the constant breeze. The house itself didn't have many rooms, but was open and airy. Most of the time the windows were thrown open for the breeze. There was a set of French doors in our bed room that led out onto the porch that was letting in entirely too much light for me to comfortably sleep; Han didn't seem to have that problem. It still sounded weird to say our bedroom.

I laid listening to Han's heart beat until he started to stir. He rub my waist slowly. I opened my eyes to see him barely awake and staring at the ceiling. His long, unfixed hair stuck up at random angles. He noticed me smirking at his messed up hair and ruffled mine until it frizzed.

"Hey, stop!" I cried. He chuckled.

"It's time for me to get up." He told me.

"No." I groaned, but moved to let him up anyway.

"Come on, we have to finish the Torino, the Barracuda, and the Boss today. We gotta get going." He jabbed me in the side and then started to get out of bed. I noticed he put his weight on his uninjured right leg before stepping with his left. He still walked with a limp, but it was getting less noticeable every day.

I sighed and slipped out on my side when I heard the bathroom door click shut and the shower start. I grabbed a sheer white shirt and a white sport bra and threw them on over denim shorts. I picked my vans off the closet floor and carried them with me. I tossed them by the front door when I walked into the living room.

I straightened up a few of the couch cushions and started washing the glasses we left on the coffee table the night before. I sighed as I started cooking myself and Han an omelet. I felt like such a house wife sometimes.

I was putting everything on a plate when I felt arms circle around my waist. I leaned back against Han's chest and handed him his plate. He kissed my neck and unwrapped his arms. I joined him at our little kitchen table.

It felt weird to have such a normal life. I wasn't having to drop whatever I was doing and leave for days. I didn't have to answer to anyone at all. I worked at the garage that Han and I set up. There was a decent street racing scene at the little town near us and we had been raking in customers.

The garage itself really wasn't that much. It was a plain brick building on the corner of a street on the west side of town. It had nothing on Han's garage in Tokyo, but it felt like home. It was usually crammed with customers cars ready to be tuned for race night. We were never lacking for work or money. It was nice to do something that I actually wanted for a change.

Z

The sun's last rays were streaking through the open garage door. I gave a tired sigh as I closed the hood of the banana yellow Mustang Boss I had spent the day slaving over. I leaned back on the hood and greedily gulped half a bottle of water. I heard silence on the other side of the garage and looked over to see Han smirking at me from where he should have been working on the charcoal grey Barracuda.

"Get back to work." I told him cheekily. He shook his head and dropped his wrench into a tool box. He crossed the room in a few slow, steady steps until he was in front of me. He leaned down to give me a slow kiss. He would have stayed like that if a customer hadn't walked in to pick up his car.

Han wasn't happy with the interruption, but left to finish the Barracuda while I dealt the with race rat. He was completely obnoxious. He probably didn't know what anything under the hood did besides the battery, and he assumed I didn't either. When he realized I wasn't there for show, and was actually the mechanic that installed his new parts, he started attempting to pick me up. At one point I actually started laughing at him.

When Han finally shut him down, he left for the races and we closed up for the night. After putting everything back in its place, I followed Han out the door.

"You want to skip the races and go somewhere tonight?" Han asked from his place leaning on the hood of his Ford Maverick.

"Okay. Like where?" I finished locking the door and put the keys back in my pocket. Han rarely wanted to skip the races. Normal, honest life got a little boring and the races were a perfect way to break up the monotony.

"The new restaurant on the beach? We haven't been there yet?" He suggested as he moved to open his door.

"Don't you need reservations that place?" I asked as I slid in beside him.

"8 o'clock." He responded without hesitation.

"Are we going to actually make our reservations this time?" I teased. He just smirked.

Z

The sand got pulled from under my curled toes as the wave retreated from the shore back out into the sea. The wind whipped at my wavy hair and snapped my dress around my legs like a flag caught in the wind. Another wave crashed on the wet sand and the warm water swirled around my ankles. Han was walking along the beach with me after a quiet dinner in the town's only upscale restaurant.

The lights of the city were at our backs and the stars were stretched out before us. Somewhere the loud rap music and the roar of competing engines could be heard from the street race, but not here. The only sound around up was from the waves hitting the wet sand and wind whistling past.

A long time ago in Japan, before I was set free, I used to dream of being on a beach. I always thought I'd be alone, but now I had Han with me. I could function apart from him, of course, but neither of us really wanted to. We had been through so much together.

Everything wasn't always perfect between us; there were times when we fought like crazy. There were times when our city in Columbia was a little too small for us. The routine of earning an honest living in a small city was sometimes just a little too boring for us.

But Han was right; you make your choices, and you don't look back. We never would know what could have been if we chose to go back to what we were in Tokyo. I really believe that even if we did know, we would choose to keep what we had now. After all, the story of Bonnie and Clyde was a lot better with a happy ending.


End file.
